Department for Transport

Driving under Influence

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 17 October 2018 to Question 177313 on Driving under Influence, what assessment he has made of (a) the effectiveness of the rigorous enforcement and serious penalties for drink drivers; and (b) trends in the level of breath test performed between 2011 and 2015.

Jesse Norman: The Department has not made a formal assessment of the effectiveness of the rigorous enforcement and serious penalties for drink drivers; nor of the trends in the level of breath tests performed between 2011 and 2015. However, the Department has already introduced further measures to tackle drink drivers. Since 2015, repeat drink drivers must medically prove they are not alcohol dependent before getting their licence back, and the right to blood testing was removed for drivers who narrowly fail breathalyser tests. A £350,000 competition announced in June to develop a new mobile evidential breathalyser for the police has also been completed; winning entries are currently being assessed.

Aviation: Training

Mr Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to speed up the process by which the Civil Aviation Authority issues private pilots' licenses.

Jesse Norman: The number of flight crew licence applications received by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has grown by more than 25 per cent this year. The CAA has responded by recruiting and training more licensing officers, increasing overtime, and pre-screening applications to ensure all the required information has been received. The CAA is also working with key stakeholders to identify improvements which will help to simplify and speed up the application process for both commercial and private pilots.

Roads: Horse Riding

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will change section 215 of the Highway Code to incorporate greater protections for horse riders.

Jesse Norman: Several sections of the Highway Code already cover horse riders. The Government announced on 18 October 2018 that, as part of the Cyclingand Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS) Safety Review, the Highway Code would be reviewed to help keep cyclists and pedestrians safe on the roads. The full scope of the review has yet to be determined but in accordance with normal practice it will be conducted in consultation with all of our stakeholders, including those representing equestrians such as the British Horse Society.

Dartford-Thurrock Crossing

Sir David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 7 November 2018 to Question 185533 on Dartford-Thurrock Crossing, if his Department will collect data about average journey times during peak hours.

Jesse Norman: Highways England, with the support of the Department for Transport, henceforth, will collate average monthly peak period journey time data and continue to gather the average journey time data provided in response to PQ 185533. Data will be obtained for both the northbound and southbound carriageways.

Bexleyheath Railway Line

Sir David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to help improve reliability of rail services on the Bexleyheath line in advance of the new franchise agreement being agreed for services on that line.

Andrew Jones: The franchise agreements between the Department and train operators include key performance benchmarks. The Department monitors each train operator against these levels, and this includes regular meetings with its senior management where performance figures are scrutinised and challenged. There are a range of enforcement mechanisms available to the Department in the event of non-compliance.

Crayford-Sidcup Railway Line

Sir David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to help improve reliability of rail services on the Crayford and Sidcup line in advance of the new franchise agreement being agreed for services on that line.

Andrew Jones: The franchise agreements between the Department and train operators include key performance benchmarks. The Department monitors each train operator against these levels, and this includes regular meetings with its senior management where performance figures are scrutinised and challenged. There are a range of enforcement mechanisms available to the Department in the event of non-compliance.

Railways: Slade Green

Sir David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to help improve reliability of rail services on the Slade Green line in advance of the new franchise agreement being agreed for services on that line.

Andrew Jones: The franchise agreements between the Department and train operators include key performance benchmarks. The Department monitors each train operator against these levels, and this includes regular meetings with its senior management where performance figures are scrutinised and challenged. There are a range of enforcement mechanisms available to the Department in the event of non-compliance.

Roads: Horses

Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the merits of revising the Highway Code to include advice by the British Horse Society's dead slow campaign on how to pass horses safely while driving.

Jesse Norman: Several sections of the Highway Code already cover horse riders. The Government announced on 18 October 2018 that, as part of the Cyclingand Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS) Safety Review, the Highway Code would be reviewed to help keep cyclists and pedestrians safe on the roads. The full scope of the review has yet to be determined but in accordance with normal practice it will be conducted in consultation with all of our stakeholders, including those representing equestrians such as the British Horse Society.

Airports

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that all airports reach at least a good standard of accessibility as measured by the Civil Aviation Authority.

Jesse Norman: The Government recognizes the importance of airports addressing the needs of all passengers, especially disabled passengers or those with reduced mobility. Addressing their needs better is an important part of the new Aviation Strategy, currently under development. The Government is also considering what more can be done to ensure that disabled passengers and those with reduced mobility have equal access to air travel and that their needs are met. The Government will consult on policy options to improve accessibility in a Green Paper, due to be published by the end of the year. These proposals will build on the work of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to improve transparency on this issue. The CAA publishes annual reports on airports’ performance on accessibility, based on a regulatory framework it introduced to the sector in 2014. This is used by the CAA to hold airports to account and to work closely with those that have not reached a good standard, so that necessary improvements are made.

Shipping: Training

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 24 October 2018 to Question 180166 on Shipping: training, whether the three-year pilot of the ratings training option has been extended; and if he will make a statement.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: As per my previous answer of 24 October 2018 to Question 180166, the pilot will continue in its current form for the 2018/19 training year.

Roll-on Roll-off Ships: Registration

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 6 November 2018 to Question 185578 on Ferries: Registration, how many roll-on roll-off ferries on the (a) UK and (b) Red Ensign registers are UK-owned.

Chris Grayling: There are 45 UK-owned roll-on roll-off ferries on the UK register, and zero on the other Red Ensign registers (non-UK).

Roll-on Roll-off Ships: Registration

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the written answer of 6 November 2018 to Question 185578 on Ferries: Registration, what the Maritime and Coastguard Agency-agreed safe crewing level is on each roll-on roll-off ferry on the (a) UK and (b) Red Ensign registers.

Chris Grayling: In terms of roll-on roll-off ferries registered in:(a) The UK, the Regulations require all registered seagoing vessels to hold a Safe Manning Document issued by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA). This document specifies the minimum crewing/manning levels. All vessels must be adequately manned for their safe operation, with due regard for the nature of their operation and their location. The MCA ensures that all roll-on roll-off ferries are correctly and safely manned from a combination of factors determined by the safe manning levels needed to deal with any potential emergency on that vessel as required by the relevant international regulations. The preparedness of the crew is tested by means of a physical drill witnessed by MCA Marine Surveyors.  (b) The non-UK Red Ensign registers, the MCA is not directly responsible for agreeing the safe crewing levels. Responsibility and obligation under the international conventions have been extended to the Governments of the UK Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. As part of the UK Flag State, they are required to follow the same levels and policy as per the UK requirements.

Large Goods Vehicles: Hydrogen

Steve Double: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to support the development of hydrogen fuelled heavy duty vehicles.

Jesse Norman: The Government’s long-term goal is the development and deployment of zero emission HGVs. Zero emission technologies are starting to emerge for the HGV sector, particularly for those vehicles with shorter range requirements. Hydrogen is likely to be a feasible zero emission fuel for large, long-haul HGVs.In 2017, OLEV and Innovate UK awarded £20 million of grant funding to 20 projects through the Low Emissions Freight and Logistics Trial (LEFT), alongside £12m in private investment. The aim is to support industry-led trials of alternative propulsion technologies for commercial fleets in the UK, including electricity, hydrogen and gas. Since 2016, ultra-low emission vehicles heavier than 3.5 tonnes, including hydrogen HGVs, have been eligible for a grant of up to £20,000 per vehicle. The Department expects to make the first awards of this grant shortly.

Roads: Tyne and Wear

Mr Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to Budget 2018, how much of the the £420 million to be provided to councils to fix potholes and carry out other road repairs will be allocated to (a) South Tyneside Council and (b) Gateshead Council.

Jesse Norman: From the £420 million for road maintenance announced in the Budget 2018, the Department for Transport has allocated (a) South Tyneside Council with £0.686 million and (b) Gateshead council with £1.2 million. This funding was provided to authorities on 13 November 2018. This funding is in addition to just under £6.2 billion the Department are allocating to highway authorities between 2015 and 2021 for local highways maintenance, including £296 million through the pothole action fund.

Lichfield Trent Valley Station: Disability

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will provide Access for All funding for the construction of a ramp from the car park on the London side of Lichfield Trent Valley railway station to enable disabled access from the car park to the station and its platforms; and if he will make a statement.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Access for All provides an accessible route from at least one station entrance (usually the main one) and all drop off points associated with that entrance, to each platform and between platforms served by passenger trains. At Lichfield Trent Valley, this means the project will deliver new lifts at platform level to link platforms 1 and 2 to platform 3 and provide an accessible route to and between all platforms, including from the station car park associated with that entrance.

Heathrow Airport: Noise

Ms Harriet Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to reduce noise pollution as a result of the operation a third runway at Heathrow Airport.

Jesse Norman: The Government sets noise controls at Heathrow Airport, including total noise limits and aircraft movement limits for night flights. These controls, in conjunction with stricter aircraft noise standards negotiated by the UK at the international level, have resulted in a long-term reduction in the number of people affected by aircraft noise near the airport. Following the designation of the Airports National Policy Statement, it is now down to an applicant for development consent for a Northwest runway scheme to undertake a detailed assessment of the environmental effects of their scheme, and to put forward an appropriate package of mitigation measures. The Airports National Policy Statement makes clear that the Government expects noise mitigation measures to limit, and where possible reduce, the effect of aircraft noise. It also sets out specific mitigations for aircraft noise which the Government expects to see delivered. These include the applicant putting forward plans for a noise envelope which is tailored to local priorities and includes noise performance targets; developing plans for a runway alternation scheme that provides communities affected with predictable periods of respite; and an expectation that the applicant will adopt a ban on scheduled night flights for a period of six and a half hours. These supporting measures are subject to consultation and will be finalised through the planning process. The application will then be considered by the Planning Inspectorate and the Secretary of State in determining any application for development consent.

Dover Port: Domestic Visits

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will list the dates of each visit he has made to the Port of Dover since May 2015.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Since May 2015 the Secretary of State for Transport has visited the Port of Dover on 16 February 2016 (Rt Hon Sir Patrick McLoughlin MP) and 25 October 2018 (Rt Hon Chris Grayling MP). The Secretary of State is briefed regularly about the Port of Dover. Numerous officials from across the Department for Transport engage with and visit the Port of Dover in the course of their duties.

Ports: Scotland

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will list each Scottish port he has visited since May 2015; and if he will provide the date of each such visit.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: While responsibility for policy matters relating to ports in Scotland, with the exception of port security, has been devolved to Scottish Ministers, the Secretary of State for Transport visited the Port of Montrose on 26 October 2017 as part of a wider visit to Scotland.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Parental Leave

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what information his Department holds on the average amount of parental leave taken by (a) women and (b) men in (i) England, (ii) London and (iii) the London Borough of Lewisham in each of the last five years.

Kelly Tolhurst: The most recent official data on average length of family-related leave taken by parents is from the Maternity and Paternity Rights Survey in 2009, which collected data from parents of children born in 2008 across Great Britain.This shows that in 2008,mothers took an average of 39 weeks of maternity leave, up from 32 weeks in 2006.amongst fathers who took some paternity leave, 16% took more than two weeks, 50% took two weeks and 34% took less than two weeks of leave.This does not contain information on average weeks of unpaid Parental Leave, nor of Shared Parental Leave which was introduced in 2015.Information on the amount of leave taken at the regional or local level is not available.The full Maternity and Paternity Rights Survey 2009/10 Research Report can be found here:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/214367/rrep777.pdfWe are currently evaluating the Shared Parental Leave and Pay schemes. As a part of this, we are commissioning a new survey which will provide updated information. Subject to the progress of data collection, we anticipate publishing findings in Summer 2019.

Solar Power: Feed-in Tariffs

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an assessment of the effect of removing the export tariff on the number of solar installations.

Claire Perry: As part of the consultation published in July on our proposal to close the Feed-in Tariff export tariff from 1 April 2019, we included an impact assessment:https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/feed-in-tariffs-scheme.We are currently considering the responses to this and will publish a government response in due course. This will include an updated impact assessment.

Unpaid Work: Conditions of Employment

Stewart Malcolm McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make it his policy to ensure that people who are asked to complete work trials at the outset of employment are classed as workers.

Stewart Malcolm McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he is taking steps to ensure that the November 2018 Government document Calculating the Minimum Wage includes guidance for people who are asked to complete unpaid work trials at the outset of employment.

Stewart Malcolm McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what his Department's definition is of the word excessive in relation to the number of hours people are asked to complete for unpaid work trials.

Kelly Tolhurst: Individuals on work trials who are asked to complete work for an employer are likely to be classed as ‘workers’ and are entitled to the National Minimum Wage. Work trials may only be unpaid if they are part of a genuine recruitment exercise. An unpaid trial work period lasting a few hours may be reasonable and legal, but an unpaid work trial lasting more than one day is probably excessive and therefore illegal in all but exceptional circumstances. The Government has consulted with employers and trade unions on how to ensure greater clarity and better practice over work trials. We have just finalised new guidance that will be published in due course.

Minimum Wage: Young People

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment the Government has made of the potential effect on youth employment rates of the increase in the minimum wage to £8.21 per hour.

Kelly Tolhurst: The National Living Wage (NLW) is applicable for those aged 25 or older and will increase in April 2019 to £8.21 per hour. This will see a full-time NLW worker’s earnings increase by over £2,750 compared to its introduction April 2019’s rate increase is following recommendations from the independent and expert Low Pay Commission (LPC). The detailed assessment made by the LPC in reaching this recommended rate will be found in their Autumn 2018 report, which will be published in due course. Additionally, the Low Pay Commission also provide recommendations on the youth-related National Minimum Wage (NMW) rates. In April 2019, the NMW for 21-24 year olds will rise to £7.70, the 18-20 year olds’ rate will rise to £6.15, the 16-17 year olds’ rate will rise to £4.35 and the Apprentices’ rate will rise to £3.90. The Low Pay Commission is asked to recommend these rates such that they do not damage the employment prospects of younger workers. Indeed, we have seen youth unemployment (16-24 year olds) decrease by 462,000 workers since 2010.

Employment: Electronic Tagging

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the efficacy of proposals for employers to be able to microchip employees.

Kelly Tolhurst: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Wind Power: Seas and Oceans

Melanie Onn: What steps he is taking to support the offshore wind sector.

Claire Perry: Offshore wind is already bringing high value jobs to coastal communities like Grimsby, for example, from the Triton Knoll project. Hull has seen 1,000 direct jobs created from the £310 million investment in Siemens’ blade factory. We are moving to advance discussions with the offshore wind sector around a Sector Deal that ensures higher levels of local content, UK jobs and investment in supply chains, like those in the hon Member’s constituency.

Employment

Kevin Foster: What recent steps he has taken through the Industrial Strategy to increase the number of high-quality, well paid jobs.

Mr Sam Gyimah: High quality, well paid jobs are a crucial part of our economy and are underpinned by productivity. Our Industrial Strategy sets out a long-term plan to boost productivity by investing in skills, industries and infrastructure. We have overseen the biggest increase in R&D funding in the last 40 years, committing £7 billion by 2023/2024; have the fastest growing infrastructure investment across the G7; and are providing £37bn of additional capital spending, all of which contribute to the creation of high-quality jobs across the UK.

Lithium: Cornwall

Steve Double: What assessment he has made of the potential contribution of lithium extraction in Cornwall to achieving the aims of the Industrial Strategy.

Richard Harrington: I am very aware of Cornwall’s contribution to the UK economy and I welcome any responsible exploitation of its natural resources including lithium which as my hon Friend knows is a key element in battery technology. That technology has great potential, which we are backing with £246m through a Faraday Challenge to boost expertise in the UK.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Turkey: Elections

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that local elections in Turkey planned to take place in March 2019 are conducted in a free and fair manner.

Sir Alan Duncan: We have consistently encouraged Turkey to ensure that the elections are held to internationally accepted standards. We have urged Turkey to invite election monitors from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the Council of Europe to observe the elections, and to act upon the recommendations made by those bodies following the Presidential elections in June 2018. If election observation missions take place we will consider offering HMG support, as we did in June. It is important for Turkish democracy that the local elections accurately reflect the wishes of the Turkish people.

Tanzania: LGBT People

Christian Matheson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the accuracy of recent press reports on threats to members of the LGBT community in Tanzania.

Harriett Baldwin: ​We are concerned by reports in the media. As I tweeted on 2 November, language that invites violence against any community in society should be rejected. The British High Commission, alongside international partners, carried out a demarche on the Tanzanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 2 November urging the Tanzanian authorities to respect human rights and protect all Tanzanian citizens from discrimination. We welcome the subsequent statement by the Tanzanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs restating their protection of rights enshrined in their Constitution. We will continue to raise our human rights concerns with the Government of Tanzania and did so most recently at senior official level on 12 November with the Tanzanian High Commissioner to London.

Kosovo: Armed Forces

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what (a) representations he has received and (b) assessment he has made of the implications for the constitution of Kosovo of proposals to change the Kosovo Security Force into a national army.

Sir Alan Duncan: FCO officials are in frequent contact with the Governments of Kosovo, Serbia and NATO Allies, including on the Government of Kosovo's proposed transition of the Kosovo Security Force to an armed force. We assess that there will not be implications for the constitution of the Republic of Kosovo because the constitution is silent on the mandate, size and composition of the Kosovo Security Force.

Syria: Peace Negotiations

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the Government’s policy is on the status of the UN-led Geneva-based peace talks on Syria as the sole legitimate framework for a political solution to the civil war in that country.

Alistair Burt: ​The Government’s policy is that the UN-led Geneva peace process indeed remains the legitimate forum to achieve a political solution in Syria. The Syria Small Group meeting hosted by the UK last month reaffirmed this.

Syria: Peace Negotiations

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of progress on the establishment of a Constitutional Committee in Syria under UN auspices, following the Syrian national dialogue conference held in Sochi in January 2018.

Alistair Burt: ​We fully support UN Special Envoy Staffan De Mistura's efforts to convene an inclusive, balanced constitutional committee by the end of the year. Agreement has now been reached on the names of regime and opposition participants, but has not yet been reached on the third list of independent participants proposed by the UN. In his briefing to the UN Security Council last month, the Special Envoy made clear that the main reason for this, is objections posed by the regime, Russia and Iran. We call on Russia and Iran to abide by their commitments and cooperate with the Special Envoy's efforts.

Syria: Peace Negotiations

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in (a) Russia and (b) Iran on the establishment of a Constitutional Committee in Syria under UN auspices, following the Syrian national dialogue conference held in Sochi in January 2018.

Alistair Burt: ​The UK regularly discusses the situation in Syria, including establishment of the Constitutional Committee, with Russia at the UN Security Council, most recently on 27 October. Our Embassies in Tehran and Moscow also regularly discuss Syria, including the political process, with representatives of the Russian and Iranian Governments.

Syria: Peace Negotiations

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the number of members of (a) the High Negotiations Committee, (b) the Syrian Democratic Council, (c) the Kurdish National Council, (d) Local Coordination Committees, (e) Local councils and (f) other Syrian opposition groups that will be represented on the proposed Constitutional Committee in Syria.

Alistair Burt: ​It is for the UN Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan De Mistura, to decide on representation on the Constitutional Committee. A number of opposition groups, including the Syrian Negotiations Commission, have submitted candidates for inclusion in the Committee, and the Special Envoy stated in his briefing to the UN Security Council last month that agreement on the opposition list of fifty names had been reached.

Palestinians: Syria

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the scale of the damage caused to each Palestinian refugee camp in Syria as a result of the civil war in that country.

Alistair Burt: ​The relevant UN agency, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), has been unable to make damage assessments for each Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, including Yarmouk, due to a lack of access provided by the Syrian regime. UNRWA undertakes regular visits to those camps where it has access. The UK is providing £36 million through UNRWA to support the estimated 438,000 Palestinian refugees inside Syria, of whom over 250,000 are internally displaced and 95% are in acute need of sustained humanitarian assistance.

Palestinians: Syria

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the effect on the prospects for the safe repatriation of Palestinian refugees displaced from Syria by the civil war in that country of the damage caused to Palestinian refugee camps in (a) Yarmouk, (b) Deraa and (c) elsewhere in Syria.

Alistair Burt: ​According to UN agencies, 120,000 Palestine refugees have been displaced from Syria to neighbouring countries, including Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Egypt, as well as Europe. We support the right of refugees to return to their homes in Syria voluntarily, in safety and dignity, in line with international humanitarian law, when conditions allow. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees is clear that present conditions in Syria are not conducive for voluntary repatriation in safety and dignity. This is due to a range of factors, notably that significant risks remain for civilians across the country, of which conditions in return areas is just one. We are clear that a just, fair, agreed and realistic settlement for Palestinian refugees should be reached as part of a negotiated two-state solution to the Israeli and the Palestinian conflict.

Jordan: Refugees

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the progress made in meeting the target number of work permits to be issued to Syrian refugees in Jordan under the EU-Jordan compact.

Alistair Burt: ​The 2016 EU-Jordan compact set a target of 200,000 work permits to be issued to Syrian refugees in specified sectors. Since January 2016, the Government of Jordan has issued 121,307 work permits to Syrian refugees, allowing them to work legally in specific jobs.

Morocco: Immigrants

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has received on the (a) arrest and (b) arbitrary detention of (i) sub-Saharan migrants with valid residency permits and (b) other sub-Saharan migrants by the authorities in Morocco since June 2018.

Alistair Burt: ​We have not received representations on the treatment of sub-Saharan migrants in Morocco.

Morocco: Immigrants

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of sub-Saharan African migrants (a) forcibly displaced and (b) expelled by the authorities in Morocco since June 2018.

Alistair Burt: ​We have not made an estimate of the number of sub-Saharan African migrants displaced or expelled by the authorities in Morocco. There are no official figures.

Morocco: Immigrants

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his Moroccan counterpart on the human rights of (a) migrants, (b) asylum seekers and (c) refugees in that country.

Alistair Burt: ​Migration is one part of our ongoing dialogue with Morocco. We discuss human rights with the Moroccan authorities and raise concerns when appropriate. Through our development programmes we also support Moroccan efforts to address the root causes of migration, as the most effective long-term solution to unmanaged, irregular migration. We will play an active role in the Global Compact meetings in Marrakech in December as we work with the international community on this issue.

Niger: Human Trafficking

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has made a recent assessment of the effect of the anti-human smuggling law adopted by Niger in 2015 on the rate of human smuggling in that country; and if he will make a statement.

Harriett Baldwin: It is Her Majesty's Government's assessment that it has become increasingly difficult for traffickers and smugglers to operate ​since the anti-human smuggling law was adopted by Niger in 2015.

Niger: Human Trafficking

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has made a recent assessment of the effect of training provided to local security forces in Niger through the EU common security and defence policy field office in Agadez on the rate of human smuggling in that country; and if he will make a statement.

Harriett Baldwin: ​The EU has provided training to the Nigerien civilian security forces through EUCAP Sahel Niger since 2012. The mission provides support to build law enforcement capacity as well as assistance to tackle irregular migration. The UK supports it as part of our broader efforts to strengthen security capacity in fragile countries in Africa.

Niger: Human Trafficking

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the progress  by the (a) EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa and (b) EU Partnership Framework for Third Countries in establishing alternative means of income to the human smuggling trade in Niger.

Harriett Baldwin: ​The EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa supports projects in Niger totalling €230m, of which €75m supports work on economic and employment opportunities, assisting over 9,000 people to develop economic income-generating activities. The UK welcomes the Fund’s focus on alternative economic activity, which is a key element of a comprehensive approach to tackling people smuggling through Niger. The creation of jobs, livelihoods and longer term stability will take time and commitment.

Israel: Bedouin

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to the Government of Israel on the negotiations regarding the status of Khan al-Ahmar; and with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for the Middle East of 4 July 2018, Official Report column 323, what urgent steps he is taking to demonstrate the international community’s support for that community.

Alistair Burt: I raised demolitions with the Israeli Ambassador to the UK on 11 October; in particular urging Israel to reconsider plans to demolish the village of Khan al-Ahmar. Our Ambassador to Israel most recently raised this issue with the Israeli Attorney General on 3 November. We remain gravely concerned by these proposals and will continue to raise our concerns with the Israeli authorities. We also issued a statement on 10 September along with France, Germany, Spain and Italy reiterating our call to the Israeli Government not to go ahead with its plan to demolish the village – including its school – and displace its residents. On 31 July, the Foreign Secretary wrote to Prime Minister Netanyahu alongside the French, German Italian and Spanish Foreign Ministers to demonstrate the international community’s support for the village and urge the Israeli Government to reconsider their decision. We are aware that Israel has postponed the demolition of Khan al-Ahmar, in order to exhaust negotiations for negotiations for evacuation by agreement. We continue to urge the authorities not to go ahead with their plan to demolish the village.

Iran: Baha'i Faith

Mr Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the increased use of Tazir laws by the Iranian courts to sentence Baha'i people; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: We are aware of continued reports of harassment and mistreatment of members of the Baha'i faith in Iran, including the recent increase in arrests from August 2018 onwards. We regularly call upon Iran to cease harassment of all religious minorities and to fulfil its international and domestic obligations to protect freedom of religion or belief.

Iran: Baha'i Faith

Mr Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to the Government of Iran on the treatment of Baha'is in that country; and if will he make a statement.

Alistair Burt: We regularly call upon Iran to cease harassment of all religious minorities, including members of the Baha'i faith, and to fulfil its international and domestic obligations to protect freedom of religion or belief. I discussed human rights, including freedom of religion, when I met my Iranian counterpart, Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, in Tehran in September.

Syria: Peace Negotiations

Christine Jardine: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, for what reasons the UK Government was not present at a meeting between Russia, France, Germany and Turkey in Istanbul on 28 October 2018 to discuss a ceasefire in Syria.

Alistair Burt: ​We support all efforts to end the Syria conflict. The Istanbul meeting was a one-off summit at Turkey's initiative with the aim of bridging differences between members of the Syria Small Group and the Astana guarantors (Russia, Iran, Turkey). We worked with France, Germany and Turkey in advance of the summit and hosted a meeting of the Syria Small Group on 29 October to agree next steps.

BBC World Service

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support the work of the BBC World Service.

Mark Field: BBC World Service provides accurate, impartial and independent news and analysis, and helps to promote Britain and our values around the world. Additional Government investment has helped World Service undergo the biggest expansion in 70 years.In 2016, the Foreign Secretary agreed to fund new language and additional enhanced services. The World Service's 'World 2020' programme brings high quality and impartial news to an even larger global audience, by reaching some of the most remote places in the world. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office funding commitment to the programme amounts to nearly £291 million between 2016-2020.

UK Permanent Representation to the EU: Staff

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many staff were contracted to work at the UK Representation to the EU in Brussels in each of the last three years.

Sir Alan Duncan: The UK Permanent Representation to the EU (UKRep) in Brussels currently employs over 150 people, comprising both permanent civil servants from multiple Government Departments and locally recruited staff. As reported in the Annual Reports published by the Department for Exiting the EU, in 2017-2018 UKRep had over 150 staff; and in 2016-2017 UKRep had over 120 staff. We keep the size and shape of UKRep under constant review to ensure it is appropriate to deliver the UK’s objectives.

Department for Exiting the European Union

Welsh Language

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what discussions he has had with the (a) Secretary of State for Wales, (b) Welsh Government and (c) Welsh Language Commissioner on the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU on (i) Welsh speakers and (ii) Welsh-speaking communities.

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what representations he has received from (a) the Secretary of State for Wales, (b) the Welsh Government and (c) the Welsh Language Commissioner on the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU on (i) Welsh speakers and (ii) Welsh-speaking communities.

Mr Robin Walker: As the Prime Minister has made clear, we are committed to securing a deal that works for the whole of the United Kingdom including Welsh-speaking communities. The UK Government has been working closely and effectively with the Welsh Government, the Secretary of State for Wales and Welsh stakeholders on EU Exit to ensure this.This includes, for example, the Joint Ministerial Committee on EU Negotiations and the Ministerial Forum on EU Negotiations. The Ministerial Forum recently discussed the UK Government’s proposals for continued cooperation with the EU on culture and education as well as options for continued participation in successor schemes to EU funding programmes, such as Creative Europe, which I understand has played a role in supporting a number of Welsh language projects. We welcomed the Welsh Ministers’ contributions to this discussion.While the Welsh language is a devolved matter, we fully recognise its importance as part of the United Kingdom’s rich culture and will continue working with the Welsh Government, the Secretary of State for Wales and Welsh stakeholders to ensure their concerns on this matter are taken into account as we leave the EU.

Disability

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, which groups his Department has consulted to help ensure that the interests of disabled people are safeguarded in the process of the UK leaving the EU.

Mr Robin Walker: Ministers and officials from DExEU and other Government departments speak regularly to stakeholders from a variety of sectors, including disability groups, voluntary sector organisations, and organisations representing EU citizens in the UK and UK nationals in the EU, to understand their concerns and priorities regarding our EU exit. Last year, our former Minister Rt. Hon. Baroness Anelay met with members of the Disability Charities Consortium, which represents eight disability charities.It is important to note that all disability protections covered in domestic legislation, namely the Equality Act 2006 and Equality Act 2010 (and equivalent legislation in Northern Ireland) will also continue to apply after exit.Part of the design of the Settled Status scheme for EU citizens in the UK has been to meet the needs of this group. On 25 October, the Home Office announced grant funding of up to £9 million for voluntary and community organisations across the UK to provide support to EU citizens who might need additional help when applying for their immigration status through the EU Settlement Scheme. The grant will help these organisations to both inform vulnerable individuals about the need to apply for settled status and support them to complete their applications under the scheme.

Department for Exiting the European Union: Labour Turnover

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what estimate he has made of the number of staff who have left his Department since it was created; and what information his Department holds on the reasons for those departures.

Mr Robin Walker: The Department for Exiting the European Union was set up as a time limited department and as such the majority of staff are employed on fixed term contracts or are loaned from other Government Departments. Attrition has remained stable at about 3% monthly average for most of the department’s life. These figures are not considered out of line for a department that has a staff profile as above. Many of those who have left to date have been planned leavers who have moved to other government departments due to their loan or job rotation coming to an end.

Department of Health and Social Care

Public Health: Finance

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect of recent reductions to the local authority public health grant on health inequalities at a (a) regional and (b) socio-economic group level.

Steve Brine: Local authorities are responsible for setting their own priorities and are accountable to their electorates for their decisions. The 2015 Spending Review made available £16 billion for funding for local authorities’ health improvement functions in England over the five year period. As a condition of the grant they receive, local authorities must have due regard to reducing inequalities in outcomes from the health services they arrange.

Public Health: Finance

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the report entitled Taking our health for granted: plugging the public health grant funding gap, published in October 2018, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of that report's finding that the reduction in public health spending per person will be 23.5% between 2014-15 and 2019-20.

Steve Brine: The 2015 Spending Review made available £16 billion of funding for local authorities’ health improvement functions in England over the five year period. Future funding for local authorities’ public health responsibilities will be a matter for the next Spending Review.

Prescriptions: Fees and Charges

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many penalty prescription charges have been issued in the last year for which figures are available.

Steve Brine: Between November 2017 and October 2018, the NHS Business Services Authority reports that it issued 1,288,364 prescription penalty charge notices.

Antibiotics: Drug Resistance

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to paragraph 6.10 of the UK Five Year Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy 2013 to 2018, published in September 2013, when he plans to publish the evaluation report.

Steve Brine: The United Kingdom Five Year Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy (2013-18) contained a commitment to assess the effectiveness of its implementation plan at the end of the five-year period. The Department commissioned the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to undertake a full evaluation of the strategy’s implementation. The evaluation is nearing completion. A final draft report will be submitted to the Department shortly and will be sent out for independent peer-review. The completed report will be put in the public domain next year.

Prescriptions: Fees and Charges

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what warnings are issued to patients who are repeatedly issued with penalty charge notices by the NHSBSA for wrongly claimed free prescriptions.

Steve Brine: The NHS Business Services Authority (BSA) administers the Prescription Exemption Checking Service and issues penalty charge notices (PCN) when it is unable to confirm a prescription charge exemption claimed. The NHS BSA has confirmed that it has a process in place to identify and contact patients who are repeatedly issued with PCNs. Follow up action is determined on a case by case basis.

Cannabis: Medical Treatments

Tonia Antoniazzi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to increase the (a) knowledge and (b) awareness among GPs of the benefits of medicinal cannabis.

Steve Brine: The Government has rescheduled cannabis-based products for medicinal use from Schedule 1 to Schedule 2 of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001. Doctors on the specialist register of the General Medical Council may now prescribe these products where there might be potential benefit to individual patients. General practitioners will not be able to prescribe but the Government has commissioned the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to produce guidance for all clinicians by October 2019.

Public Health: Finance

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much money has his Department allocated to the public health budget in each of the last five years.

Steve Brine: The information is not held in the format requested.

Air Pollution

Bambos Charalambous: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of the public health budget has been allocated to support measures that seek to protect the public from air pollution in each year for which information is available.

Steve Brine: The information is not held in the format requested.

Nutrition: Advertising

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if the Government will hold discussions with (a) advertisers and (b) major supermarkets on reducing the amount of advertisement of foods and drinks that are high in sugar.

Steve Brine: Officials from the Department have regular discussions with representatives from advertisers and major supermarkets. Conversations include reducing the amount of advertisements of food and drinks that are high in sugar.

Ovarian Cancer

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help raise awareness of ovarian cancer.

Steve Brine: Public Health England (PHE) has run a number of ‘Be Clear on Cancer’ (BCOC) campaigns to help improve early detection of cancer. In 2014 PHE ran a regional ovarian cancer campaign in the North West of England, and in 2017 a pilot which focussed on a range of abdominal symptoms, such as diarrhoea, bloating and discomfort that can be indicative of a number of cancers, including ovarian cancer was carried out in the East and West Midlands. PHE is currently undertaking new data analysis and research to determine the future direction of BCOC activity in 2019/20 and will take into consideration the outcomes of these previous campaigns. PHE will also consult with NHS England on the timings and location of any future campaigns.

Incinerators: Health Hazards

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of waste incinerators on the health outcomes of local communities .

Steve Brine: The effects of modern municipal waste incinerators on human health were reviewed by the Health Protection Agency, whose functions were transferred to Public Health England (PHE) on 1 April 2013. The report, published in September 2009, concluded “Modern, well managed incinerators make only a small contribution to local concentrations of air pollutants. It is possible that such small additions could have an impact on health but such effects, if they exist, are likely to be very small and not detectable.” PHE will review its advice in light of new substantial research on the health effects of incinerators published in peer reviewed journals. To date, PHE is not aware of any evidence that requires a change in their position statement.

Coeliac Disease

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many Clinical Commissioning Groups in England have stopped funding for all gluten-free foods.

Steve Brine: The information is not held centrally.

Electronic Cigarettes

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential effectiveness of encouraging people who smoke to switch to vaping to help them stop smoking.

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent comparative assessment he has made of the effect on health of (a) smoking and (b) vaping.

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to make people who smoke aware of the effects on public health of vaping.

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which body is responsible for providing health information on vape products to smokers.

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to encourage smokers to take up vaping as one method of stopping smoking; and if he will make a statement.

Steve Brine: The Government has consistently highlighted that quitting smoking and nicotine use is the best way to improve health. E-cigarettes are not risk free. However, the evidence is increasingly clear that vaping is significantly less harmful to health than smoking tobacco and can be particularly useful in supporting smokers to quit, especially when combined with stop smoking services. In the Tobacco Control Plan for England, published in July 2017, the Government committed Public Health England (PHE) to annually updating their evidence report on e-cigarettes and other novel nicotine delivery systems until the end of Parliament in 2022. PHE’s latest report was published on the 6 February 2018 and is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/684963/Evidence_review_of_e-cigarettes_and_heated_tobacco_products_2018.pdf PHE’s most recent evidence review argues that e-cigarette use, alone or in combination with licensed medication and behavioural support from a stop smoking service, appears to be helpful in the short term, and that e-cigarettes have contributed to tens of thousands of additional quitters in England. The PHE evidence review concluded that “to date there have been no identified health risks of passive vaping to by-standers”. PHE have produced guidance for organisations on developing appropriate vaping policies for public places and workplaces, which should be evidence based and support smokers to quit whilst managing any identified risks. The Government is committed to reducing public health harms caused by smoking. PHE retain responsibility for the provision of information regarding vaping, e-cigarettes and other nicotine delivery systems to protect public health; and have committed to include messages about the relative safety of e-cigarettes within quit smoking campaigns such as the annual Stoptober campaign. PHE continue to provide advice on quitting smoking, highlighting the potential role of e-cigarettes in doing so. PHE’s latest Health Matters blog, Stop Smoking: What works? Provides advice to smokers on different quitting options, including e-cigarettes as well as nicotine replacement therapy and prescription medicines. This is available at the following link: https://publichealthmatters.blog.gov.uk/category/health-matters/

Electronic Cigarettes

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the July 2018 report of the Science and Technology Committee on E-cigarettes HC 505, what assessment he has made of the potential effectiveness of urgently reviewing the policies of local stop smoking services on vape products.

Steve Brine: The Department does not monitor the policies of local stop smoking services. Therefore no such assessment has been made. The Government is committed to keeping the evidence on e-cigarettes under review. Public Health England will continue to publish an annual review of the evidence base, and reflect that emerging evidence base in advice to local services.

Electronic Cigarettes

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential effectiveness of removing vape products from the definition of tobacco products in the EU Tobacco Products Directive; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the UK's potential ability to tackle (a) the concentration limit on nicotine in vape bottles, (b) the size of those bottles and (c) other aspects of the EU Tobacco Products Directive after the UK leaves the EU.

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on public health of amending the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 after the UK leaves the EU.

Steve Brine: Vaping products are defined as nicotine inhaling products in the European Union Tobacco Products Directive 2014/40/EU (TPD). The TPD is implemented into United Kingdom domestic law and, after the UK leaves the EU this legislation will remain in force, subject to the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. The scope of these amendments is limited to ensuring that tobacco control policy and legislation continue to function effectively after EU exit. The Department has committed to reviewing the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations (2016), and a range of tobacco legislation by 2021. As announced in the Tobacco Control Plan (2017) the Government will review where the UK’s exit from the EU offers us opportunities to re-appraise current regulation to ensure this continues to protect the nation’s health.

Electronic Cigarettes: Regulation

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of current regulations in ensuring (a) the growth of the vaping sector and (b) high product manufacturing standards for consumers after the UK leaves the EU.

Steve Brine: The Government published a detailed impact assessment of the Tobacco Products Directive in April 2016. No further assessment has yet been made.

Electronic Cigarettes: Regulation

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether (a) nicotine shots and (b) shortfills are regulated under (i) UK and (ii) EU law.

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the (a) effectiveness of the regulation of non-nicotine liquid for vape products and (b) effect on public health of (i) shortfills and (ii) nicotine shots.

Steve Brine: Nicotine shots are regulated under the Tobacco and Related Products Regulation 2016 as they are a nicotine containing product. As shortfills do not contain nicotine when sold they are not regulated under the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 (TRPR), but are covered by General Product Safety Regulations. The Government is committed to conduct a review of the TRPR at a later date.

Tobacco

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what evidence his Department has collated on effect on people's health of the use of (a) Snus and (b) tobacco.

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to direct  Public Health England to include the effect of Snus on people's health in future evidence reviews.

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of lifting the ban on Snus products.

Steve Brine: No evidence has been collated by the Department as snus is banned under the European Union’s Tobacco Products Directive as an oral tobacco product. The Commission has however set out the evidence underpinning the ban. The impact assessment for the 2014 Directive can be found at the following link: https://ec.europa.eu/health/sites/health/files/tobacco/docs/com_2012_788_ia_en.pdf The Government committed in the Tobacco Control Plan for England to review where the United Kingdom’s exit from the EU offers us opportunities to re-appraise current regulation to ensure this continues to protect the nation’s health. We will look to identify where we can sensibly deregulate without harming public health or where current EU regulations limit our ability to deal with tobacco. The Government’s goal will remain to achieve a proportionate approach to managing risk, one which protects the young and non-smokers, whilst giving smokers access to products which will reduce harm.

Sapropterin

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to NHS England’s appraisal of Kuvan, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the cost offset of dietary treatments is considered in its economic assessment of the cost of commissioning new medicines.

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the financial cost offset to the NHS including savings to the NHS from reduced acquisition costs of food supplements of commissioning Kuvan for the treatment of phenylketonuria.

Steve Brine: NHS England has considered a policy for Kuvan (sapropterin) at the Clinical Priorities Advisory Group (CPAG) meeting on 6/7 November. Whilst NHS England did make an estimate of the current cost of protein supplements and a potential reduction in their use if Kuvan were prescribed, this cost was not included in the analysis because commissioning responsibility for supplements rests with clinical commissioning groups and it would be unlikely that NHS England would be able to realise these savings. The cost of the potential reduction in protein supplements is also relatively modest compared to the cost of Kuvan. In line with its published process, the recommendations from CPAG will be considered by the Specialised Commissioning Oversight Group and the Specialised Services Commissioning Committee. A decision about whether or not Kuvan has been prioritised for funding will be published in due course. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is currently developing technology appraisal guidance for the National Health Service on the use of Kuvan for the treatment of phenylketonuria. In developing technology appraisal guidance, NICE takes into account all the health and publicly funded social care related costs and benefits associated with the treatment, potentially including any costs from NHS funded treatments that can be avoided such as food supplements. The NICE appraisal of Kuvan is now underway and NICE expects to publish final guidance next year.

Rare Diseases: Drugs

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether a single technology appraisal process or a highly specialised technology appraisal process is used for (a) phenylketonuria and (b) other rare diseases.

Steve Brine: Medicines and other treatments being considered for assessment by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) are considered through an established topic selection process to ensure that they are suitable for referral to NICE and that they are routed to the most appropriate process within NICE. The topic selection process includes consideration of topic against published criteria and consultation with stakeholders. Most new medicines are referred for assessment through NICE’s technology appraisal programme though NICE also operates a separate highly specialised technology evaluation programme for a small number of very high cost drugs for the treatment of very rare diseases. Following consideration through the topic selection process, NICE is currently developing guidance on two drugs for the treatment of phenylketonuria through its technology appraisal programme.

Cancer: Children

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will set up a Young Patient Travel Fund to assist families with the travel expense of attending specialist hospitals for cancer treatment; and if he will make a statement.

Steve Brine: There is work underway to review the service specifications for children and young people with cancer. This will provide an opportunity to consider how some aspects of the patient pathway may be provided more locally to reduce the travel burden for patients and their families. Currently the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme which is part of the NHS Low Income Scheme allows for patients (and in certain circumstances their carers) to receive reimbursement of travel if they are in receipt of a qualifying benefit or on a low income. The NHS Low Income Scheme has helped 337,000 applicants to receive financial help with their National Health Service treatment.

Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on improving the availability of support and advice for children of alcoholic parents.

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his Department’s priorities are for expanding support services for children of alcoholic parents.

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce child vulnerability to alcohol-related harm.

Steve Brine: The Government is committed to reducing the harm of alcohol addiction and to ensuring there is improved availability of support for children of alcohol dependent parents. On 23 April 2018, the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department of Work and Pensions announced a jointly funded package of measures totalling up to £6 million to improve the availability of support for these children. Priority measures include a local authority innovation fund, national capacity building through voluntary sector organisations and additional helpline support for children. We will be announcing details of the organisations receiving funding for this work shortly.

Mental Illness: Preventive Medicine

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department’s new strategy based on prevention will aim to prevent the onset of mental health disabilities.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Government’s vision document, ‘Prevention is better than cure’, sets out our ambition to put prevention at the heart of health and social care in England. This includes both physical and mental health. However, there are already a number of measures in place or being planned to prevent the onset of mental health difficulties, and to support recovery for those who have experienced such difficulties, including introducing an access target for the service called 'Early Intervention in Psychosis' to help people recover after their first psychotic episode and prevent the condition from worsening in the future, and the range commitments outlined in the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Green Paper. We will be publishing a Green Paper in 2019 which will set out our further plans on prevention in greater detail.

Electronic Cigarettes

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the implications are for his policies of the evidence from Public Health England and Cancer Research UK that one of the most effective ways to stop smoking is to use vape products.

Steve Brine: The Government is committed to reducing public health harms caused by smoking and has consistently highlighted that quitting smoking and nicotine use is the best way to improve health. E-cigarettes are not risk free. However, the evidence is increasingly clear that vaping is significantly less harmful to health than smoking tobacco and can be particularly useful in supporting smokers to quit, especially when combined with stop smoking services. The most recent evidence report review from Public Health England, published on 6 February 2018, argues that e-cigarette use, alone or in combination with licensed medication and behavioural support from a stop smoking service appears to be helpful in the short-term, and that e-cigarettes have contributed to tens of thousands of additional quitters in England. The Department will continue to monitor the impact of regulation and policy on e-cigarettes and novel tobacco products in England, including evidence on safety, uptake, health impact and effectiveness of these products as smoking cessation aids, to inform our future policy.

Electronic Cigarettes

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of  the effectiveness of the regulation of non-nicotine liquid for vape products and nicotine shots.

Steve Brine: Nicotine shots are regulated under the Tobacco and Related Products Regulation 2016 as they are a nicotine containing product. As shortfills do not contain nicotine when sold they are not regulated under the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 (TRPR), but are covered by General Product Safety Regulations. The Government is committed to conduct a review of the TRPR at a later date.

Female Genital Mutilation

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has been made of the effect of the legal duty to inform police of FGM on the rates of (a) disclosure of FGM and (b) medical treatment on the after-effects of FGM.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The decision by a patient to disclose female genital mutilation (FGM) to a healthcare professional is complex, and depends on many considerations. The FGM Mandatory Reporting duty (which applies only when the patient is under 18) is just one aspect of this. The Home Office amended the police Annual Data Requirement (ADR) to allow police forces the opportunity from April 2018 to record, on a voluntary basis, offences of FGM which were initially reported to the police under the FGM Mandatory Reporting Duty. Subject to data quality checks, we expect the first dataset under this new voluntary ADR collection to be published in late 2019. With this information in combination with the FGM Enhanced Dataset, published by NHS Digital, we will be able to consider whether there is evidence of impact of the FGM Mandatory Reporting duty.

Female Genital Mutilation

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to tackle barriers to patient information being reported to the statutory database of people who have been subjected to FGM.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Female Genital Mutilation Enhanced Dataset is collected via the NHS Digital Clinical Audit Platform (CAP), which is an easy to use, intuitive, data submission tool that needs no specific training. NHS Digital has published clear guidance online to support National Health Service organisations to register to access CAP and to submit information on the system. In 2017, the process was simplified and streamlined to further support primary care practices to register on the CAP, and it was confirmed that the Senior Partner or Caldicott Guardian at a practice can submit the registration to access CAP.

Gambling

Sir David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will make an assessment of the effectiveness of the NHS in supporting people who have a gambling addiction.

Steve Brine: Many people with gambling problems will receive treatment from the National Health Service. There are a range of services available to problem gamblers, details of which can be found on the NHS Choices website at the following link: www.nhs.uk/Livewell/addiction/Pages/gamblingaddiction.aspx Specialist facilities are provided through industry funding. Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust has a national problem gambling clinic which accepts referrals from all over the United Kingdom. Further details are available at the following link: http://www.cnwl.nhs.uk/cnwl-national-problem-gambling-clinic/ The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has been commissioned to explore developing a guideline on non-chemical addictions, including gambling, which will give support to clinicians seeking to support problem gamblers.

Prescription Drugs

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 24 October 2018 to Question 180245 on Prescription Drugs, for what reason his Department did not include individual testimony; and what proportion of the published evidence was submitted by pharmaceutical companies.

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care,  whether a non-disclosure agreement was made between Public Health England and the National Guideline Centre in relation to the review of literature on prescribed medicines.

Steve Brine: ‘Prescribed Medicines: An Evidence Review’ is a public health evidence review of the published evidence and available data. This process is distinct from a public inquiry so the inclusion of individual testimonies would not be appropriate. Public Health England (PHE) is aware of the importance and relevance of the experience of patients in understanding the issues. The review will give significant prominence to the patients’ experiences and examine existing service models through published research and other methods, for example analysis of annual reports of various withdrawal charities. The call for evidence was open to all parties, including pharmaceutical companies. The call for evidence has now closed. The National Guideline Centre (NGC) will provide details on the evidence submitted in their rapid evidence assessment report. The report is due in early 2019. A non-disclosure agreement was not made between PHE and the NGC in relation to the review of literature on prescribed medicines.

Integrated Care Systems

Mr George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to NHS England's consultation on contracting arrangements for Integrated Care Providers, which closed on 26 October 2018, what the timetable is for the publication of the outcome of that consultation.

Stephen Hammond: The consultation on proposed contracting arrangements for integrated care providers closed on 26 October. A response to the consultation following full consideration of responses and feedback will be published by NHS England in due course.

Palliative Care

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to prioritise end-of-life care in the NHS.

Caroline Dinenage: Delivering improvements to end of life care is a key priority for this Government and end of life care is an important part of the proposals which are helping to shape the long-term plan for the National Health Service. NHS England is now considering the many responses and submissions it has received, including those from end of life care charities, as part of the listening exercise it held to help develop and refine policy proposals for inclusion in the plan. NHS England will continue working with key stakeholders before its publication later this year.

Cervical Cancer: Screening

Kate Hollern: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to prevent system errors occurring in the correspondence sent to women relating to cervical cancer screening.

Steve Brine: Holding answer received on 19 November 2018



Following the recent cervical screening incident, announced on 15 November 2018, Capita has confirmed they have put in place daily audits to ensure all women’s files are accounted for and are looking at how automated processes can be used to reduce errors. Additionally, the checks within the Capita call and recall service have been upgraded at every stage of the process and Capita has appointed an independent audit team to carry out a detailed review into operation systems and processes in Primary Care Support England. I laid a Written Ministerial Statement on 15 November, HCWS1086, explaining the incident and the steps being taken to address it, offering reassurances to the women affected. All individual women affected have been written to directly and Capita has issued an apology. NHS England has set up a multiagency clinical panel to manage the response to the incident and, separately, has announced an independent expert review into cancer screening programmes.

Cervical Cancer: Screening

Kate Hollern: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many women later died after missing an early cervical cancer screening as a result of not being sent a letter notifying them of the early screening.

Steve Brine: Holding answer received on 19 November 2018



To date no serious harm has been identified following the recent serious incident whereby a number of cervical screening invitations, reminders and results letters were not sent to women. All women affected by this incident have been written to and the file of any woman needing a follow up is being checked to ensure they have been referred appropriately. Assessments of harm as a result of not being sent a letter are ongoing. The public health advice from Public Health England is that the risk posed by missing these letters remains low.

Postnatal Care

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to include a maternal six-week check in the new General Medical Services contract; and when the current negotiations will conclude.

Steve Brine: Holding answer received on 19 November 2018



The inclusion of a requirement to carry out the six-week maternal postnatal check for all mothers in the general medical services contract would need to be negotiated and agreed, as part of the annual contract negotiations. We have asked for this issue to be considered in the contract negotiations for 2019/20. The negotiations are expected to be concluded before the end of the year. The details of those negotiations are not generally discussed until an agreement on the way forward has been reached.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease have been referred for pulmonary rehabilitation in accordance with NICE guidelines in the most recent period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Steve Brine: Holding answer received on 19 November 2018



National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Guidelines state that “Pulmonary rehabilitation should be made available to all appropriate people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) including those who have had a recent hospitalisation for an acute exacerbation” 1. NHS England supports the national Asthma and COPD Audit Programme – led by the Royal College of Physicians – which provides data on a range of indicators to show opportunities for improving COPD outcomes. The audit shows that 13% of people with COPD are referred to pulmonary rehabilitation services2. A continuous clinical audit of service provision and delivery of pulmonary rehabilitation is due to start in March 2019. Notes: 1Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in over 16s: diagnosis and management Clinical guideline Published 23 June 2010 www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg101 2https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/projects/national-asthma-and-copd-audit-programme-nacap-pulmonary-rehabilitation-workstream

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that all patients diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease have access to community rehabilitation in accordance with NICE guidelines; and if he will make a statement.

Steve Brine: Holding answer received on 19 November 2018



Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is one of the most effective treatments for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The Department supports the National Health Service to increase access to PR and improve the quality of care for people with long-term respiratory conditions. Respiratory disease is clinical priority in the NHS Long Term Plan. A working group has been developing policy proposals with the aim of delivering specific improvements in respiratory disease. One of the areas under review is the current service provision for PR services in England. The NHS RightCare COPD pathway, which is now being rolled out nationally through clinical commissioning groups, includes timely access to PR as part of the optimal treatment pathway. NHS England is working with NHS Improvement, Public Health England and the third sector to ensure all components of the COPD pathway including identification, diagnosis, treatment and management of respiratory conditions are coordinated across the health system.

Dementia

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has targets for improvements to care and services for people with dementia over the period of this Parliament.

Caroline Dinenage: Dementia remains a key priority for the Government. We will implement the Prime Minister’s Challenge on Dementia 2020 (published in February 2015) in full to make sure the lives of those with dementia are transformed by 2020. Working with our partners, we continue to make progress against the ambitions set in the March 2016 Implementation Plan which details how the commitments in the Challenge, across the four core themes of risk reduction, health and care, awareness and social action, and research will be met. This is reflected in the specific expectation set in the mandate to NHS England 2018/19 that two thirds of people living with dementia should receive a formal diagnosis. As of October 2018, the dementia diagnosis rate was 67.9%.

HIV Infection: Drugs

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 21 June 2018 to Question 153280 on HIV Infection: Drugs, if he will publish the review of risk factors and associated vulnerabilities among women recruited to the trial.

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 21 June 2018 to Question 153280 on HIV Infection: drugs, if he will publish the outcome of the interviews with women to explore the facilitators and barriers to accessing the HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis.

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 21 June 2018 to Question 153280 on HIV Infection: Drugs, how many women have joined the HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis impact trial to date.

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 21 June 2018 to Question 153280 on HIV Infection: Drugs, how many women who are victims of domestic violence have joined the HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis impact trial to date.

Steve Brine: In line with the guidance governing research, the HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Impact Trial is currently unable to provide any detailed breakdown of information about participants. This is to preserve the integrity of the emerging data. A planned interim analysis including further demographic breakdown is planned early next year. An evaluation report will be available after the completion of the trial in 2021 which is expected to include the facilitators and barriers to accessing HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis across all groups, including women.

NHS

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish the long-term plan for the NHS.

Stephen Hammond: The Government expects National Health Service leaders, clinicians and experts to develop the long-term plan to ensure that the NHS can cope with the serious demand and cost pressures it faces in the future. It will be published later this year.

Cervical Cancer: Screening

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of women in (a) Oxfordshire and (b) Oxford West and Abingdon constituency who did not receive a cervical screening invitation and reminder letter between January and June 2018.

Steve Brine: We understand from NHS England that no women registered in Oxfordshire and Oxford West and Abingdon constituency were affected by the recent failure to send out cervical screening invitation and reminder letters between January and June 2018.

Cervical Cancer: Screening

Liz McInnes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the whether the cervical screening programme IT system is fit for purpose.

Steve Brine: Following the recent cervical screening incident, announced on 15 November 2018, NHS England has set up a multi-agency clinical panel to manage the incident. Capita has put in place daily audits to ensure all women’s files are accounted for and are looking at how automated processes can be used to reduce errors. Additionally, the checks within the Capita call and recall service have been upgraded at every stage of the process and Capita has appointed an independent audit team to carry out a detailed review into operation systems and processes in Primary Care Support England.

Health Services: Immigrants

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of doubling the immigration health surcharge on (a) recruitment and (b) retention of non-UK staff in the NHS.

Stephen Hammond: There is no evidence to suggest there has been any negative impact on the number of applications made to come to the United Kingdom as a result of the surcharge. The surcharge currently is and will remain excellent value for new and existing workers, particularly in comparison to the alternatives, including the cost of private insurance, as it provides near full access to the comprehensive range of services and treatments that our National Health Service provides. We do not envisage the increase in the surcharge to have any negative effect on the UK’s competitive position in attracting and retaining skilled workers and students.

Department for International Development

UNESCO

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what the Government's policy is on the UK's (a) future membership of and (b) future funding to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization; and if she will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: There has been no change to our membership or funding commitment to UNESCO. The UK continues to work closely with UNESCO and other member states to ensure it makes crucial reforms to deliver the best results and value for taxpayers’ money. We make ongoing assessments of multi-agency performance, consideration of whether Agencies are providing value for tax payers’ money is an important part of these assessments.

Pakistan: Overseas Aid

Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what (a) education and (b) interfaith initiatives her Department has funded in Pakistan to promote tolerance and interfaith harmony in schools in each year for which information is available, and how much her Department has spent on each such initiative.

Alistair Burt: Since 2011, DFID has benefited 10 million primary and nearly 6 million secondary students in Pakistan. Inclusion and respect for minorities forms an integral part of provincial and national education programmes. Our work to promote tolerance and interfaith harmony includes: training nearly 100,000 teachers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Punjab in equity and inclusion; funding the Alif Ailaan education campaign which focusses on religious minorities; and engaging with education civil society organisations to champion issues of inclusion and raise these with government. Through the KP Education Support Programme (KESP) and the Punjab Education Support Programme II (PESP II), DFID has also provided technical assistance to provincial governments to revise the school curriculum and remove discriminatory content from textbooks. Since 2011, DFID has invested £678.7m in education in Pakistan, including £122.7m in 2017/18.

Developing Countries: Land Mines

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to support mine clearance operations in post-conflict areas.

Alistair Burt: The UK is committed to mine action. In April 2017 DFID committed £100million to clear at least 150km2 of land in some of the most heavily contaminated countries in the world recovering from recent conflicts, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen and South Sudan.

Department for Education

Teachers: South Cambridgeshire

Heidi Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of teachers that are on the (i) main, (ii) upper, and (iii) leadership pay scales in South Cambridgeshire constituency.

Nick Gibb: Please see the attached table which provides the number and proportion[1],[2] of full and part-time regular teachers in service in state funded schools who are paid on the main, upper, leadership, other and unknown pay ranges in South Cambridgeshire constituency and in England in November 2017. Within the table, the ‘Other’ column includes the leading practitioners[3] and unqualified teachers[4] pay ranges and the ‘Unknown’ column relates to invalid codes entered by schools during the collection process that were not amended by the schools after being identified as invalid. [1] Excludes centrally employed staff.[2] Figures 3 or less have been suppressed.[3] Leading practitioners are qualified teachers who are employed in posts that the relevant body has determined have the primary purpose of modelling and leading improvement of teaching skills.[4] Unqualified teachers are teachers who are not a qualified teacher and who is prescribed by Order under section 122(5) of the Act as a school teacher for the purposes of that section.[5] Includes leading practitioner and unqualified pay ranges.



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Schools: Disability

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the inclusion of physically disabled children in schooling.

Nadhim Zahawi: The government takes seriously its role in promoting inclusion and equality in education settings and the Equality Act 2010 (together with Part 3 of the Children and Families Act 2014) is a foundation stone on which our special educational needs (SEN) and disability system sits. The Equality Act requires all schools (whether maintained or academy) to produce an accessibility plan. These plans are about ensuring that all aspects of school life are accessible to disabled pupils. The Act also requires local authorities to produce accessibility strategies with the same aims as the school-level plan, but with different coverage.We have funded the Schools Development Support Agency, working with pdnet to deliver a contract to improve knowledge, skills and capability of the school workforce. Pdnet standards have been developed for the early years, schools and post 16 settings, along with level 1 training for schools raising awareness of physical disabilities. Further information about pdnet is available on http://pdnet.org.uk/.

Schools: Admissions

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the report entitled It might be best if you looked elsewhere: An investigation into the schools admission process, whether his Department has acted on the recommendations made in that report.

Nick Gibb: The Department wants fair access to a good school place for every child and routinely keeps the school admissions system under review. In setting their admission arrangements, admission authorities must ensure the practices and the criteria used to decide the allocation of places are fair, clear, objective and comply with admissions law and equalities law.

Pupil Exclusions

Julie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what powers Ofsted has to investigate the (a) level of and (b) reason for school exclusions through its (i) school inspections and (ii) joint area inspections with the Care Quality Commission.

Nick Gibb: Ofsted has a duty to consider pupils’ behaviour and safety as part of its section 5 school inspections. While it is not Ofsted’s role to investigate individual cases, inspectors always look at exclusions on school inspections and ask head teachers about trends and reasons for exclusions. The issue of exclusion is also covered as part of the joint Ofsted/Care Quality Commission inspections of local authorities’ effectiveness in identifying and meeting the needs of children and young people who have special educational needs or disabilities. Inspectors will report on overall levels of exclusions, and may comment when there is a specific or recurring trend.

STEM Subjects: Design

Mr Edward Vaizey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to promote and support the development of design skills as part of STEM education.

Nick Gibb: The Department has worked with organisations such as the James Dyson Foundation and the Royal Academy of Engineering to reform the design and technology (D&T) A level, GCSE and curriculum. The content emphasises the iterative design processes at the heart of modern industry practice. There is also more mathematical and science content that students must use and relate closely to D&T, and a much greater use of design equipment such as 3D printers and robotics. Under the new national curriculum, reformed in 2014, D&T remains a compulsory subject in all maintained schools from Key Stage 1 to 3. Maintained schools are also required to offer it as a subject at Key Stage 4. Academies can use the national curriculum as a benchmark for what they teach. The D&T GCSE counts towards the Progress 8 secondary accountability measure.The new qualification will prepare students for further study and careers in design. To ensure the subject is taught well, the Department supports recruitment of D&T teachers through bursaries of up to £12,000 for eligible candidates.For post-16 students, the Government is introducing T Levels, based on learning from the best international examples. Once fully introduced, many of the new T Level programmes will focus on core science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) occupations, including in the engineering and manufacturing sectors. Designed by employers, T Levels will give students access to high quality technical study programmes, which will prepare them for employment and higher level study in STEM occupations.

Schools: North East

Mr Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to Budget 2018 how much of the £400 million capital funding for schools will be allocated to schools in (a) Jarrow Constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) Tyne and Wear and (d) the North East.

Nick Gibb: The Government is allocating an additional £400 million of capital funding to schools in 2018–19. This funding is in addition to the £1.4 billion of condition allocations already provided this year to those responsible for maintaining school buildings. The Department will publish a calculation tool by December that will enable schools to estimate their own allocation. Final allocations for all schools in England will be published in January. The Department expects an average size primary school to receive £10,000 and an average size secondary school to receive £50,000 from the £400 million investment. The additional funding will be allocated to: maintained nurseries, primary and secondary schools, academies and free schools, special schools, pupil referral units, non-maintained special schools, sixth-form colleges, and special post-16 institutions that have eligible state-funded pupils.

Schools: Finance

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance his Department has issued to schools to help them manage their cost pressures.

Nick Gibb: The School Resource Management Strategy, published in August, sets out the support to help schools reduce their costs. The strategy includes direct routes to help schools make savings on the £10 billion non-staffing spend across England last year and ensure that money goes where it is needed. The package of support includes access to Government-backed deals that are helping schools save money on things they buy regularly, such as utility bills, printers and photocopiers. The Department recommends that schools visit our pages on Buying for Schools here:https://www.gov.uk/guidance/buying-for-schools.The Department also recommends the page on School Resource Management below to ensure they have access to the latest resources:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-excellent-school-resource-management.

Schools: Finance

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the public purse of supporting the introduction of the national funding formula.

Nick Gibb: The information requested is not held centrally. The Department does not record information on the amount of staff time and other resources spent on specific policy areas.

English Baccalaureate

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the EBACC allows young people to keep their future education options open.

Nick Gibb: The core academic subjects that make up the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) at GCSE are those which the Russell Group says open more doors to more degrees at A level. Not studying the EBacc prior to age 16 is likely to close down options early by precluding pupils from taking those subjects any further (for example, at A level). They provide a sound basis for a variety of careers beyond the age of 16. These subjects also enrich pupils’ studies and give them a broad general knowledge that will enable them to participate in and contribute to society. There is evidence that suggests that subject choice at A level directly impacts the under-representation of lower socio-economic groups at high status universities, and that these gaps can be closed by reducing differences in attainment and subject choice at GCSE. The EBacc is therefore key to removing the barriers to ensure that all children are given the same chances through education to succeed. Since the introduction of the EBacc the proportion of pupils taking this combination of subjects has risen from 22% in 2010 to 38% this year. This includes welcome increases in the proportion of pupils taking EBacc science (up from 63% in 2010 to 95% this year) and history or geography (up from 48% in 2010 to 78% this year). The Department is supporting increases which will further increase the take up of languages, launching a range of initiatives, including a languages Pedagogy Pilot Programme, a Mandarin Excellence Programme, and a package of generous financial incentives to boost teacher supply.

Pre-school Education: Standards

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the attainment gap in early years education.

Nadhim Zahawi: My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State has set out his ambition to halve by 2028 the proportion of five-year-olds who do not achieve the communication and reading skills they need to thrive. On 14 November 2018, he hosted a summit on the ‘home learning environment’, bringing together nearly 100 businesses, charities and public sector organisations to explore longer term opportunities to support parents with early learning at home. At the summit he announced £6.5 million for voluntary and community sector organisations who work with families of young children to support early language development, helping to address and support concerns when they can have the most impact; and to improve the early years education of children with special educational needs and disabilities.This builds on the ambitious social mobility action plan ‘Unlocking Talent, Fulfilling Potential’, published in December 2017, which set out £100 million of investment. This includes £50 million to develop more high quality school-based nursery provision to increase the number of good early years places for disadvantaged children; and a £50 million investment in professional development through English Hubs, professional development for early years practitioners, and a dedicated what works fund.

Young People

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps his Department has taken to improve options for young people outside of academic study and qualifications.

Anne Milton: Following our reforms to apprenticeships, we are making significant reforms to technical education, the centrepiece being the introduction of T levels - a high quality and rigorous technical alternative to academic education. T levels will be two-year classroom-based technical training programmes for 16 to 19 year olds, which include a technical qualification, work placement, English and maths and any other components required by employers. The first teaching of T levels will begin in September 2020 with all routes available from September 2022. We will be investing up to an additional £500 million a year on T levels once fully rolled out.This builds on our reforms to apprenticeships, making them longer, better, with more off-the-job training and proper assessment at the end. We are also encouraging employers to take on younger apprentices aged 16 to 18, through incentives to employers and training providers. We have also introduced a new careers strategy which sets out how we will go further to make sure that young people can talk regularly to employers and training providers while they are still at school. This includes a new law, requiring all maintained schools and academies to make sure that there is an opportunity for a range of providers to talk to pupils from years 8 to 13 about approved technical education qualifications or apprenticeships, so that they are aware of the different options.

Teachers

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that teaching is an attractive and fulfilling profession.

Nick Gibb: The Department for Education has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Further Education: Disadvantaged

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to remove barriers preventing students from disadvantaged backgrounds participate in further education.

Anne Milton: The 16 to 19 funding arrangements for school and college places include an element of disadvantage funding. This element of the funding is for providers to attract, retain and support disadvantaged students and to support students with special educational needs and disabilities. Disadvantage funding is provided to institutions for students with low prior attainment or for students who live in the most disadvantaged areas. For the 2018/19 academic year, we have allocated approximately £510 million to institutions for 16 to 19 year olds to provide extra support for students from disadvantaged areas.The department also provides financial support for 16 to 19 year olds who are economically disadvantaged to help with costs associated with staying in post-16 education such as travel and course equipment. The 16-19 Bursary Fund is the main programme, but there is also residential and childcare support available. These programmes aim to enable 16 to 19 year olds to participate in education whatever their financial situation.For those aged 19 and above, the Adult Education Budget provides financial support to help adult learners to overcome barriers that prevent them from taking part in learning. Through learner support, colleges and training providers have the discretion and flexibility to help learners meet costs such as travel, books, equipment and childcare. In addition, learning support, such as equipment, an interpreter or support worker, is available to meet the needs of learners with learning difficulties or disabilities. If the cost of support exceeds the fixed monthly rate that providers can claim or if the cost of support exceeds £19,000 per learner per year, providers can apply for exceptional learning support.

Education: Hearing Impairment

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to improve the provision of education services to children with a hearing impairment.

Nadhim Zahawi: I am determined that all children and young people, including those who are deaf or have a hearing impairment, receive the support they need to achieve the success they deserve. I am meeting with the National Deaf Children’s Society in November to find out more about their concerns.In April, the Whole School special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) consortium, led by the National Association for Special Educational Needs, were awarded a two-year contract for a new programme of work which will focus on building the skills of teachers working in mainstream and special schools and ensuring the schools’ workforce are equipped to identify and meet their training needs in relation to SEND. The National Sensory Impairment Partnership are part of the consortium.Local authorities play a key role in providing support to children and young people with sensory impairment. They are best placed to determine local priorities and make funding decisions in consultation with local people and having regard to the range of statutory responsibilities placed on them. High needs funding, for children and young people with more complex SEND, increased from £5 billion in 2013 to just under £6 billion this year.

Home Education

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when his Department plans to publish the results of the consultation on draft guidance for elective home education.

Anne Milton: The responses received to the consultation, which closed on 2 July, are still being considered. When this process has been completed the finalised version of the guidance documents for local authorities and for parents will be published on the GOV.UK website.

Home Education: Radicalism

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the evidential basis is for the statement in his Department's consultation, Elective home education: call for evidence, that home education may present increased risk (a) to safeguarding and (b) of radicalisation.

Anne Milton: The text of the call for evidence made it clear that there were concerns amongst local authorities that home education increased these risks but did not claim to present evidence to show whether this was in fact the case – one of the purposes of the call for evidence was to allow respondents to give information on views on these matters, and on the issues of registration and monitoring of home education.

Free School Meals: North Norfolk

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of (a) children and (b) children eligible for free school meals reached a good level of development at age five in North Norfolk in each of the last three years.

Nadhim Zahawi: The requested data is shown in the attached table. Results at local authority level for academic year 2017/18 are due to be published on Thursday 29 November.   



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Forensic Science: Misconduct

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Written Statement of 21 November 2017, HCWS 265, Toxicology, how many toxicology tests commissioned by local authorities resulted in erroneous results which altered a child protection decision.

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Written Statement of 21 November 2017 on Toxicology, HCWS265, how many local authorities the Department has identified as having commissioned tests from Trimega.

Nadhim Zahawi: The department wrote to all local authorities in England asking them to review whether they had commissioned forensic tests from Trimega Laboratories Limited between January 2010 and April 2014. 131 local authorities have confirmed that they used the services of Trimega Laboratories Limited during this period. It is unlikely that decisions about the welfare of children will have been taken solely on the basis of toxicology test results, as this would only form part of the evidence that local authorities consider when making decisions about vulnerable children. The department does not have oversight of individual decisions made in local authority areas but have asked local authorities to consider whether any additional action is necessary in order to fulfil their safeguarding responsibilities.

Home Education

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the link between the number of pupils that are home schooled and the number of school exclusions.

Anne Milton: The information requested is not held centrally. The department does not hold information on the number of children who are home educated. It is not possible to make any overall assessment of the number of children who are educated at home and of those, the number who have been excluded from school. Parents have a right to educate their child at home. That choice should be one made freely by the parent, without pressure from a school whether by exclusion or other means. Head teachers can only exclude pupils, either permanently or for a fixed period, for disciplinary reasons. The process that head teachers must follow is set out in statutory guidance, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-exclusion. Data on fixed period and permanent exclusion decisions is published annually and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-exclusions.

Academies: Pupil Exclusions

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of school exclusions have been made by academies in each of the last three years.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Department for Education has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Further Education: Finance

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Prime Minister's Oral Answer of 14 November 2018, Official Report, column 310, to the hon. Member for Makerfield, what the evidential basis is for the statements that (a) the Government has invested nearly £7 billion this year in further education and (b) funding to support adult participation in further education will be higher than at any time in England’s history by 2020.

Anne Milton: The government plans to invest nearly £7 billion during the 2018/19 academic year, to ensure there is a place in education or training for every 16 to 19 year old who wants one. This is made up of £5.7 billion as set out in the 2018/19 published 16 to 19 allocations (available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-allocation-data-2018-to-2019-academic-year.) along with our estimates of: additional high needs funding from the Dedicated Schools Grant that will be invested by local authorities in young people with complex special educational needs or disabilities (whose support costs more than schools and colleges can meet from their annual budget); and investment in apprenticeships for 16 to 18 year olds.By 2020, funding in adult skills participation will have increased through maintaining the Adult Education Budget at £1.5 billion per annum, by investing nearly £2.5 billion in apprenticeships per year, double what was spent in 2010, and by extending the reach of Advanced Learner loans so that funding has been available to meet demand. In addition, the total amount of investment in skills through the European Social Fund (ESF) is between £250 and £300 million per annum. Plans are being made to determine what provision should be delivered as a replacement for ESF.

Ministry of Justice

Prisoners: Mothers

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many women with a North Wales postal address that were held at HMP Styalwere had dependent children in 2017/18 .

Edward Argar: 111 women who were held at HMP Styal during the 2017-18 financial year had a reported North Wales address and are recorded as having children. The data from Prison-NOMIS, the system from which this information was obtained, only records if the prisoner has children (as of today) and does not state how old the children are or if they are dependents.Our female offender strategy set out a dedicated approach to supporting female offenders and I am determined to build on this by shifting focus away from prisons to women’s centres with a range of support services, including for substance misuse and mental health problems.We are investing an additional £5 million over two years on community provision so that, where appropriate, women are given the support they need to address their offending and turn away from a life of crime. Work is also ongoing to improve the quality pre-sentence reports to ensure that sentencers are made aware and can take account of whether an offender is a primary carer. Note:North Wales has been defined as having a reported address within the local authorities of: Anglesey; Conwy; Denbighshire; Flintshire; Gwynedd; and Wrexham.Around 97% of prisoners have an origin location - i.e. addresses that are recorded in our central IT system. If no address is given, an offender’s committal court address is used as a proxy for the area in which they are resident.This information is included in the data provided in the answer above.Those with no recorded origin are typically foreign nationals or those recently received into custody.No address has been recorded and no court information is available for around 3% of all offenders; these figures are excluded from the figure above.

Ministry of Justice: Energy

Stuart C. McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the quantity was of (a) electricity and (b) natural gas used by (i) his Department, (ii) HM Courts and Tribunals Service and (iii) HM Prison and Probation Service in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

Stuart C. McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the cost was of (a) electricity and (b) natural gas used by (i) his Department, (ii) HM Courts and Tribunals Service and (iii) HM Prison and Probation Service in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

Edward Argar: The following tables provides details of the consumption and costs of electricity and gas for the Ministry of Justice, HM Courts & Tribunals Service and HM Prison and Probation Service in each of the last three years. Ministry of Justice Electricity consumption (MWh)Cost (£m)Gas consumption (MWh)Cost (£m)2015-1611,6411.53,7140.22016-178,4011.33,3160.12017-1811,1021.82,2390.1 Notes:Consumption and costs for the Ministry of Justice are not directly comparable because of differences in scope. The consumption figures comprise consumption by MoJ HQ, other agencies (excluding HMCTS and HMPPS) and non-departmental public bodies. Costs are for MoJ HQ only. HM Courts & Tribunals Service Electricity consumption (MWh)Cost (£m)Gas consumption (MWh)Cost (£m)2015-16118,11116.2159,6335.72016-17103,34115.9158,0384.92017-18106,57116.4152,4255.9 HM Prison and Probation Service Electricity consumption (MWh)Cost (£m)Gas consumption (MWh)Cost (£m)2015-16317,39945.3739,73328.62016-17386,90543.8760,55925.72017-18322,34841.0732,05023.6 The MoJ is committed to delivering a sustainable government estate and the department as a whole has reduced its carbon emissions by 35% since 2009-10.

Ministry of Justice: Research

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department maintains a record of research it has commissioned.

Edward Argar: Holding answer received on 19 November 2018



The Ministry of Justices Analytical Services Directorate currently maintains a central record of its externally commissioned social research but not of the internal social research which is conducted as part of its’ day to day analytical functions. Some of the Ministry of Justice’s agencies and public bodies will also independently externally commission social research but a central record of this work is not maintained. The Ministry of Justice also commissions external research which is not social research but does not maintain central records of this research.

Prisons: Private Sector

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 18 September 2018 to Question 172523 on Prisons: Private Sector, when his Department stopped holding data on the number of staff certified under Section 89 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991.

Rory Stewart: The Ministry of Justice has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Prisons: Private Sector

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 18 September 2018 to Question 172523 on Prisons: Private Sector, for what reason his Department stopped holding data on the number of staff at each privately operated prison certified under Section 89 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991.

Rory Stewart: The Ministry of Justice has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Prisons: Private Sector

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 18 September 2018 to Question 172523 on Prisons: Private Sector, what grades of staff are covered by the term funded posts.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 18 September 2018 to Question 172523, on Prisons: Private Sector, who decides (a) which posts are classed as funded posts and (b) the number of funded posts.

Rory Stewart: The contract price for privately managed prisons includes the cost of providing all staff with the required skills and experience necessary for the provision of the services as set out in the contract. This includes, but is not limited to, administrative staff, Prison Custody Officers (PCOs) and Operational Support Grades (OSGs). The Ministry of Justice does not mandate staffing numbers and it is the responsibility of the Contractor to determine and maintain the number of staff necessary to discharge the requirements of the contract and ensure that staff are sufficiently trained to undertake their duties. The performance of all providers continues to be robustly managed. We will not hesitate to take action if and when standards fall short.

Prison Officers: Recruitment

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many new Officer Certificates under Section 89 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 have been issued by his Department in each month since January 2018.

Rory Stewart: The Ministry of Justice has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Prison Officers

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many officer certificates under Section 89 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 have been withdrawn by his Department in each month since January 2018.

Rory Stewart: The Ministry of Justice has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Domestic Violence: Court Orders

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that victims of domestic abuse are protected in cases where their attacker's restraining order is varied.

Edward Argar: The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 allows the court, upon conviction or acquittal, to make a restraining order for the purpose of protecting the victim from conduct that amounts to harassment or that will cause fear of violence.The primary consideration of the court is that restraining orders remain necessary for the purpose of protecting the victim. When an application to vary a restraining order is made, the judiciary must consider the impact on the victim. Any application to vary must be shared with the victim to allow them to give their views before an order can be varied. All decisions on a variation are always communicated to the CPS, the police and the victim so that consideration can be made as to any additional protection that may be required. Departmental procedures require the police to receive notice within 30 minutes of an order being varied, so that they can take immediate steps if that is necessary.

Prisoners: Pregnancy

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that pregnant female prisoners receive adequate medical care (a) during their pregnancy and (b) when giving birth.

Edward Argar: Holding answer received on 19 November 2018



All pregnant women in custody have an individual care and management plan that is communicated to all staff and all pregnant women are seen by a mid-wife at least fortnightly or as required. Healthcare in prisons is provided by trained medics and nurses, but we have also made training on dealing with pregnant women available to all prison officers.We know it is extremely rare for a woman to give birth in prison - because every step is taken to get them to hospital - but those unique cases are invariably down to the unpredictability of labour. Our new Female Offenders Strategy made clear that we want fewer women serving short sentences in custody and more remaining in the community, making use of women’s centres to address needs such as substance misuse and mental health problems.

Prison Officers: Labour Turnover

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to encourage more prison officers to stay in post.

Rory Stewart: Retaining and recruiting engaged and motivated staff is critical to delivering the solutions to drive improvement across the service. We know that retention of staff will take more than a ‘one size fits all’ approach, and specific action is being taken where attrition is most acute. We launched a Retention Framework and Action Plan, designed to support prisons in identifying drivers of attrition and local interventions. Governors are proactively using the Framework to implement the actions required to tackle attrition at their prisons. A Retention Board has also been established to review Band 3-5 Prison Officer resignation rates, providing support and targeted interventions to prisons with acute issues or increasing resignation rates.

Prisons: Unmanned Air Vehicles

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department plans to take against (a) drone operators and (b) prisoners involved in receiving messages or contraband.

Rory Stewart: We are taking decisive steps to tackle the use of drones as a supply route for organised criminals to bring drugs and mobile phones into prisons. These drone operators can be prosecuted for offences related to conveyance of items into prison under the Prison Act 1952. Last year we launched Operation Trenton, a specialist team of police and Prison Service investigators, to work together to intercept drones and track down the criminals behind them. On 26 October, following the largest investigation of its kind, an organised criminal gang of 15 were collectively sentenced to nearly 40 years in prison for using drones to drop drugs into several prisons. One member of the gang received a sentence of 10 years’ custody, the highest single sentence for drone-related activity to date. Prisoners who break the law in prison should expect to be sanctioned according to the severity of the crime, with serious crimes being referred to the police for investigation. The maximum sentence that a court may impose will depend on the facts of the case and the offence the prisoner has been found guilty of committing. In respect of controlled drugs, for example, prisoners involved in their delivery may receive a sentence of up to 10 years’ custody and an unlimited fine.

Legal Aid Scheme: Slavery

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 13 November 2018 to Question 188815 on Legal Aid Scheme: Slavery, whether the specific legal aid provision for victims of modern slavery and human trafficking for immigration advice and representation, including assistance with applications for leave to enter or remain, subject to means and merits testing, applies to applications for (a) permanent residence and (b) pre-settled status.

Lucy Frazer: Holding answer received on 19 November 2018



An application for a residence is not an application for leave to enter or remain and legal aid to assist with such an application is outside the scope of the legal aid scheme.The EU Settlement Scheme will be a streamlined, user-friendly process, in line with the draft Withdrawal Agreement with the European Union published on 19 March 2018, for resident EU citizens and their family members to obtain the UK immigration status which they will require in order to remain in the UK beyond the end of the planned implementation period on 31 December 2020. For those EU citizens who might need additional help when applying under the scheme, the Home Office has announced a grant scheme for the voluntary and community sector which will help to ensure support is available.An individual will not need to apply to the scheme if they hold either indefinite leave to remain in the UK or indefinite leave to enter. There is specific legal aid provision for victims of modern slavery and human trafficking for immigration advice and representation, including assistance with an application for these forms of leave.

Crimes of Violence: Sentencing

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will review the sentencing guidelines for offences of assault against people delivering front line public services.

Rory Stewart: Sentencing guidelines are developed and reviewed by the independent Sentencing Council. I understand that the Sentencing Council is currently revising the definitive sentencing guideline on assault and will be considering recent changes to legislation as part of this.

Prisoners: Childbirth

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the article in the Guardian of 13 November 2018 entitled Female prisoners in England left to give birth without midwife, what steps he is taking to ensure midwifery care is provided to perinatal women in custody.

Edward Argar: All pregnant women in custody have an individual care and management plan that is communicated to all staff and all pregnant women are seen by a mid-wife at least fortnightly or as required. Healthcare in prisons is provided by trained medics and nurses, but we have also made training on dealing with pregnant women available to all prison officers and new guidance will make clear that pregnant women should have access to 24-hour midwifery advice. We know it is extremely rare for a woman to give birth in prison - because every step is taken to get them to hospital - but those unique cases are invariably down to the unpredictability of labour. Our new Female Offenders Strategy made clear that we want fewer women serving short sentences in custody and more remaining in the community, making use of women’s centres to address needs such as substance misuse and mental health problems.

Forensic Science: Misconduct

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Written Statement of 21 November 2017 on Toxicology, HCWS265, whether any civil cases have been subsequently identified by his Department as having been affected by manipulation.

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Written Statement of 21 November 2017 on Toxicology, HCWS265, how many C650 applications to vary or set aside a court order in relation to children have been filed in relation to the manipulation of test results by Trimega and Randox Testing Services.

Lucy Frazer: 191955: Greater Manchester Police are undertaking an ongoing, expansive criminal investigation into alleged manipulation of toxicology results now by three individuals who were employed at Trimega, and later Randox Testing Services (RTS) after Trimega’s liquidation in 2014, and this matter is being treated with the utmost seriousness.   As the police are now treating all results obtained by Trimega between 2010 and 2014 as unreliable, and because Trimega provided toxicology testing for civil and family court cases, it is possible that some civil cases may have been affected by manipulation, though this remains undetermined as the investigation is ongoing.191958: As of 16 November 2018, four C650 applications to vary or set aside a court order in relation to children (drug and/or alcohol toxicology test after 2010) have been filed with HM Courts & Tribunals Service. Of these, one was dismissed on application because it did not relate to testing undertaken by Trimega. Of the other three, one was withdrawn and another dismissed by the judge hearing the case. In one instance, a previous order was discharged.

Crime: Victims

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will list the projects announced in the Victims Strategy in September 2018 which are for (a) England only and (b) England and Wales.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will list the projects in the Victims Strategy which incur Barnett consequentials for Wales.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the Barnett consequentials incurred for Wales from the Victims Strategy.

Edward Argar: I attach tables of the commitments in the Victims Strategy for England only, England and Wales, Wales only and the United Kingdom. We are working closely with the Welsh Government to ensure that the Victims Strategy can be implemented effectively in Wales. We will continue to evaluate the financial implications and as part of the work on reviewing the Victims’ Code and developing the consultation on a Victims’ Law we will consider whether there are any additional funding pressures for devolved services in Wales. Whether particular commitments being taken forward by other departments create additional funding pressures for devolved services is a matter for them.



Tables
(Word Document, 27.18 KB)

Treasury

Taxation: Multinational Companies

Caroline Flint: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department has taken to secure multilateral support for public country-by-country reporting.

Caroline Flint: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department has taken to secure support from EU member states for the implementation of public country-by-country reporting throughout the EU.

Caroline Flint: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has discussed public country by country reporting at multilateral meetings in the last 12 months.

Caroline Flint: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions his Department has had with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on discussing public country by country reporting at the EU Competitiveness Council.

Mel Stride: The UK has led international action to enhance tax transparency. This included initiating the international work on country-by-country reporting during its G8 Presidency in 2013, and being the first country to commit to implement the OECD model for country-by country reporting with legislation in the 2015 Finance Act. The Government believes a multilateral approach to public country-by-country reporting would help ensure effective implementation. The UK has raised public country-by-country reporting with international partners where appropriate and the Government has engaged with our international partners, including at EU level, on this issue.

Children: Day Care

Sir David Crausby: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many 30 hours free childcare codes have been issued manually as a result of faults in the childcare account system.

Sir David Crausby: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people have received financial compensation as a result of not having access to their online childcare account; and how much money has been paid out of the public purse for that compensation.

Elizabeth Truss: The vast majority of parents apply for and use their childcare account without problems, including getting their 30 hours eligibility code. Where parents have experienced technical issues, HMRC has arrangements in place to ensure that they do not miss out as a result. Manual codes are issued via a standard exception process that enables parents to access a 30 hours place when they are eligible if they cannot get a digital code within the required timeline. The number of manual codes issued has been decreasing since September 2017 as the system has become embedded.   To 31 October 2018, HMRC has received 4,560 complaints from parents who have experienced technical issues with the childcare service.   To 31 October 2018, HMRC has issued 35,370 codes manually to parents.   To 31 October 2018, HMRC has paid out £200,000 in redress to parents for expenses such as telephone calls to the helpline.

Public Expenditure

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what comparative assessment he has made of spending on public services in the UK and other EU member states.

Elizabeth Truss: The level and direction of spending on public services is set according to the government’s priorities at periodic Spending Reviews and at fiscal events. These decisions are supported by extensive evidence, including when appropriate international comparisons and examples of best practice and innovation. At last month’s Budget the Chancellor set out a 5-year funding plan for the NHS and £84bn additional spending. The Chancellor will set out spending plans for other public services at a Spending Review next year.

Economic Situation: Northern Ireland

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the contribution of the UK internal market to the Northern Irish economy.

Elizabeth Truss: The UK internal market benefits all the nations of the UK. The latest data from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) indicate that 58% of all external sales from Northern Ireland go to Great Britain.

Business: Exports

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many businesses have registered under the Registered Exporter system in the last two years.

Mel Stride: 12,321 businesses have been registered under the Registered Exporter system (Rex) since January 2017.

National Insurance: Fraud

Dr Philippa Whitford: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what protection is in place to prevent fraudulent use of National Insurance numbers when individuals share the same name and date of birth.

Dr Philippa Whitford: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what systems are in place to distinguish people's National Insurance details when more than one person share the same name and date of birth.

Mel Stride: HMRC issue a National Insurance number to an individual shortly before they reach their sixteenth birthday. The process ensures that no two individuals can be issued with the same number, even where they share the same name and date of birth. Where an individual has not been allocated a National Insurance number by HMRC, they can apply to DWP who will undertake a face to face interview to establish their identity and check entitlement to a number. This again ensures a National Insurance number cannot be issued to more than one person. In each case, a National Insurance number will be unique to each individual and remain the same for life. Both HMRC and DWP take seriously any attempts to use the National Insurance number fraudulently and have a range of measures in place to counter abuse wherever it occurs.

Carers: Children

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what financial support his Department makes available to children under the age of 16 that are carers.

Elizabeth Truss: Children and young people should be protected from inappropriate and excessive caring responsibilities, and we have changed the law to improve how young carers and their families are identified, assessed and supported. Government set out further details on our plans to support young carers in the Carers Action Plan earlier this year.

Research: Finance

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how the Government is planning to protect R&D funding in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Elizabeth Truss: The draft withdrawal agreement sees the UK continuing to participate in EU programmes until the end of 2020 – providing certainty for British organisations and their European counterparts. The Treasury will guarantee funding for UK organisations which successfully bid directly to the European Commission - through projects like Horizon 2020 - until the end of this EU budget period if no deal is agreed.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Social Services: Children

Dame Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure that the transition to a new single authority in Buckinghamshire will not affect existing programmes to improve the provision of Children's Services.

Rishi Sunak: The leaders of all the Buckinghamshire councils have made clear to me their commitment to ensure the continuing improvement of children’s services. It will be important throughout the transition to the recommendations of the Children’s Commissioner are given due regard. I am considering how these recommendations may best be reflected in the Order which, if approved by Parliament, will implement the new unitary district council and make provision for transitional arrangements.

Unitary Councils: Buckinghamshire

Dame Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent estimate he has made of the savings to be accrued as a result of the establishment of a single unitary district council in Buckinghamshire.

Rishi Sunak: The information to which the Secretary of State had regard when making his decision on the Buckinghamshire proposal for a single unitary council included financial estimates from Buckinghamshire County Council, indicating that savings of some £18 million per year could be made. Information on costs and benefits is available here: https://www.buckscc.gov.uk/services/council-and-democracy/our-plans/buckinghamshire-unitary/

Unitary Councils: Buckinghamshire

Dame Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what additional financial support he plans to provide to the district councils in Buckinghamshire to enable them to fulfil the requirement to support town and parish councils in the production of neighbourhood plans during the period of preparation for a new single unitary district council.

Rishi Sunak: The Government’s New Burdens doctrine ensures local planning authorities receive the relevant resources to meet their statutory obligations under neighbourhood planning. This Government has paid out over £23 million since 2012 to help local planning authorities meet their neighbourhood planning responsibilities. Local authorities can apply for funding of £20,000 for every neighbourhood plan that has passed its independent examination and reached referendum stage. Further details are available in the Chief Planners letter of May 2018 (full link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/717060/180605_Chief_Planner_Letter_NPG_18-19_-_revised.pdf).

Local Government Finance: Buckinghamshire

Dame Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will publish the financial reserves held at 1 November 2018 by each of the local authorities in Buckinghamshire that will be abolished by the creation of a single unitary district council.

Rishi Sunak: The latest data collected from local authorities on their reserves is for 31 March 2018. This is available at www.gov.uk/government/statistics/local-authority-revenue-expenditure-and-financing-england-2017-to-2018-individual-local-authority-data-outturn.

Local Government Finance: Buckinghamshire

Dame Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will take steps to ensure that the existing financial reserves held by Chiltern District Council will be spent in the Chiltern District Council area.

Rishi Sunak: Subject to Parliamentary approval of the necessary secondary legislation, Chiltern District Council will be able to continue to take decisions about the use of its existing financial reserves until 31 March 2020, after which, remaining reserves become the responsibility of the new unitary district council which may decide to use them to resource new community boards being established and services and assets being devolved to any town and parish councils in the area.

Unitary Councils: Buckinghamshire

Dame Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Written Statement of 1 November on Local Government Update, HCWS1058, what discussions he has had with district councils on implementation of proposals for a new unitary district council in Buckinghamshire; and what assessment his Department has made of the merits of using existing local structures to deliver services to residents.

Rishi Sunak: I have met with the leaders of all the Buckinghamshire councils who have made clear their ambitions for the new council and their intentions to work together constructively to achieve these. Central to the unitary proposal is devolving services and funding to parish and town councils where they want this, which the proposal explains will enable greater empowerment at a local level.

Energy: Social Rented Housing

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of spending by social housing providers on increasing the energy efficiency of their housing stock over the next (a) five and (b) 10 years.

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of the spending by social housing providers on reducing fuel poverty over the next (a) five and (b) 10 years.

Kit Malthouse: The Department has made no such estimates.The Regulator of Social Housing requires that homes in the social housing sector meet the Decent Homes Standard, which includes having efficient heating and effective insulation. It is for providers of social housing to make decisions on how and when they maintain and improve their stock.In 2017, expenditure on all maintenance and major repairs by private registered providers of social housing (mainly housing associations and excluding local authorities) was £4.8 billion. The Social Housing Green Paper is considering a review of the Decent Homes Standard that includes criteria on thermal comfort.We are investing £9 billion in the Affordable Homes Programme, which will deliver 250,000 affordable homes by March 2022

Affordable Housing: Construction

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 7 November 2018 to Question 185515 on Homes England Finance, what estimate he has made of the amount of grant funding available for construction of affordable homes in each financial year between 2018-19 and 2022-23.

James Brokenshire: Holding answer received on 19 November 2018



The Affordable Homes Programme has a £9 billion budget from 2016/17 to 2021/22. At the National Federation Conference in 2018, the Prime Minister announced an additional £2 billion for affordable housing which will be available from 2022/23 to 2028/29. Updated budgetary information will be published once the Supplementary Estimates process has concluded. Budgets beyond 2020/21 will be agreed through the forthcoming Spending Review.

Housing Revenue Accounts

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether it is the Government's policy to allow homes for market (a) rent and (b) sale to be kept in local authority housing revenue accounts.

James Brokenshire: Holding answer received on 19 November 2018



Section 74(1) of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 requires local housing authorities to keep a Housing Revenue Account (HRA) if they provide homes under Part II of the Housing Act 1985, subject to a direction by the Secretary of State. This means that any homes a local authority provides under Part II, including those for market rent or sale, should sit within the Housing Revenue Account unless the Secretary of State issues a direction to exclude them. Whilst no direction has been made for homes for market rent or market sale, we do not believe that local authorities routinely use their HRA to hold such homes.

Affordable Housing

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 14 November 2018 to Question 188719 on Affordable Housing, whether a delivery profile has been agreed.

James Brokenshire: Holding answer received on 19 November 2018



Delivery profiles are programme management tools we use with both the Greater London Authority and Homes England to assess whether the programme is on track to deliver its target of 250,000 affordable homes by March 2022.These profiles are regularly reviewed and amended as appropriate as Homes England and the Mayor of London make delivery and funding commitments into future years.

Freehold Properties (Management Charges and Shared Facilities) Bill

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make it his Department's policy to support the Freehold Properties (Management Charges and Shared Facilities) Bill.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: The Government is committed to legislating to ensure that freeholders who pay charges for the maintenance of communal areas and facilities on a private or mixed tenure estate can access equivalent rights as leaseholders to challenge their reasonableness. We set out our approach to implementing this commitment in part 4 of the consultation ‘implementing reforms to the leasehold system in England’ which was published on 15 October. We will consider our position on the Ten Minute Rule Bill once the detail has been published.

Homelessness: Autism

Ms Harriet Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department takes steps to ensure that autistic children are not left without housing after becoming homeless.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: Under the Housing Act 1996, local authorities are required to place all homeless children into suitable accommodation, taking into account their needs. The Department provides statutory guidance to local authorities on this, which makes clear the importance of providing suitable accommodation to households with children (Homelessness Code of Guidance, Chapter 17).

Devolution: Yorkshire and the Humber

John Grogan: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect of the proposals for One Yorkshire devolution on the Yorkshire economy.

Jake Berry: We are considering the material provided.The Government has already agreed a devolution deal for the Sheffield City Region. We look forward to this being implemented in full. It will bring £900 million of much needed new funding to the city region, and put power in the hands of local people.

Ministry of Defence

Armed Forces: Credit Unions

Jamie Stone: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much money was loaned to (a) service personnel and (b) veterans through the Armed Forces Credit Union between (i) October 2015 and October 2017 and (ii) October 2017 and October 2018.

Jamie Stone: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average loan amount was to members of the Armed Forces Credit Union in the last period for which figures are available.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The information requested is not held. The Armed Forces Credit Union, "Joining Forces", is operated by three Credit Unions independent of the Ministry of Defence.

Armed Forces: Loans and Personal Savings

Jamie Stone: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) service personnel and (b) veterans have received payroll and pension deductions for the purposes of savings and loans in each of the last five years.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The table below shows the number of Service personnel and veterans who have deductions from payroll or pensions for savings and loans through the Armed Forces Credit Union since November 2015, when it became possible to do so. The facility for veterans to have deductions taken from pension payments has only been available since 2016.  2015201620172018Service personnel2401,2203,1204,590VeteransN/A499Yearly Total2401,2243,1294,599 Please note the 2018 data is provided up to 31 October 2018, and individuals may have deductions taken in more than one year.

Emergencies: Climate Change

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 13 November 2018 to Question 188095 on Emergencies: Climate Change, what steps he is taking to ensure that defence infrastructure is not compromised by incidents related to climate change.

Mark Lancaster: A Climate Resilience Delivery Plan has been developed to improve the implementation of climate resilience across the estate. The plan aims to ensure that defence infrastructure and the estate is assessed against the risks presented by our changing climate.Initial focus has been on incorporating climate risk as part of overall risk management. The Climate Impacts Risk Assessment Methodology is the Ministry of Defence's key tool for improving climate resilience of the estate.

Joint Strike Fighter Aircraft

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he plans to make a decision on the final composition of the UK's Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning force.

Stuart Andrew: The Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 stated our intent to buy 138 F-35 Lightning aircraft over the life of the programme. The first tranche of 48 aircraft will be F-35B; decisions on subsequent tranches of Lightning will be taken at the appropriate time.

Joint Strike Fighter Aircraft

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the UK's planned total fleet of F-35 aircraft will be certified to operate from austere forward locations.

Stuart Andrew: The UK Lightning Force will have the ability to operate from austere land-bases.

Ministry of Defence: Babcock International

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how often Babcock and any of its (a) subsidiaries, (b) Joint Ventures and (c) other commercial ventures have been stress-tested by his Department; when the last such stress test was carried out; and what the results of that stress test were as part of that contract between Babcock and his Department.

Stuart Andrew: As a key supplier to the Ministry of Defence, Babcock's performance, including any partnering subsidiaries or Joint Ventures, is regularly monitored. This is carried out through robust monitoring of contract performance indicators, with action being taken as appropriate where standards are not met.

Department for Work and Pensions

Private Rented Housing: Universal Credit

Laura Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the effect of the introduction of universal credit on the financial sustainability of private sector landlords.

Alok Sharma: There are many complex factors which contribute to and affect the financial sustainability of landlords in this sector. Research carried out by the National Federation of ALMOs shows over three quarters of their tenants come onto Universal Credit with pre-existing rent arrears.Arrears are usually temporary and the majority of claimants do succeed in paying their rent, managing their monthly payments and clearing their arrears over timeWe continually review and improve Universal Credit in response to feedback. In 2018, following Autumn Budget 2017, we have implemented a comprehensive and wide-ranging package of improvements worth £1.5 billion. These include making advances of up to 100% of the indicative award available (from the start of a claim) and increasing the repayment period to 12 months, removing the 7 waiting days, providing an additional payment of 2 weeks of Housing Benefit to support claimants when they transition to Universal Credit, and changing how claimants in temporary accommodation receive support for their housing costs.

Department for Work and Pensions: Staff

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department has taken to offer more hours to employees of her Department who are in receipt of universal credit; and how many employees of her Department in receipt of universal credit have secured such extra hours in order to comply with conditionality requirements.

Alok Sharma: Holding answer received on 23 October 2018



DWP employees claiming Universal Credit have no obligation to inform DWP they are on any benefit and DWP policy is clear that employees claiming benefits will not be treated more or less favourably than other staff. All requests for an increase in working hours are considered and agreed at a local level. Such requests will be handled in the same way regardless of the fact the employee is a Universal Credit claimant. Similarly, we keep no separate data as to whether requests for increase in hours are from employees on benefits or not. The fact that employees claim benefits has no bearing on the business decisions of DWP at organisational or individual level. Claimants who are in work with earnings above the Administrative Earnings Threshold are not currently expected to undertake any mandatory activity. Therefore there is currently no conditionality requirement.

Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit

Angela Crawley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applicants have been refused industrial injuries disablement benefit for prescribed disease D12 in each of the last five years.

Sarah Newton: The available information is shown in the table below: Industrial Injury Disablement Benefit - first diagnosed prescribed diseases all assessments and decisions following a new claim, in each quarter for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (formally known as chronic bronchitis/emphysema) (D12)--Total number of Assessments made in each monthNumber of claims in payment after assessmentNumber of claims disallowed after assessment 2012December150201202013March13030100 June14020120 September1102090 December120201002014March14030110 June14020120 September1202080 December120201002015March18030110 June18020130 September20010140 December200201702016March18010160 June18020160 September20020180 December200201702017March15010140 June17020140 September16020130 December200301602018March17020140

Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Angela Crawley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department has taken to ensure that the current occupational qualification to receive industrial injuries disablement benefit for prescribed disease D12 reflects current research into the industrial causes of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Sarah Newton: I am advised by the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC) which is a non-Departmental public body made up of independent experts, representatives of employers and employees on matters relating to the Industrial Injuries Scheme. The Council’s primary role is to make recommendations about which diseases should be included in the list of diseases covered by the Industrial Injuries Scheme and the prescription criteria for those diseases. The legal framework underpinning the Industrial Injuries Scheme makes it clear that compensation should not be paid for a disease unless a link between a particular occupation and the disease can be established or presumed with reasonable certainty. A link is presumed where there is evidence that, on the balance of probabilities, work in the prescribed job or occupational exposure doubles the risk of developing the disease. The Council keeps all occupational diseases under continuous review to ensure they are in line with current scientific evidence, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and is always prepared to receive and consider new robust evidence from any source.

Social Security Benefits: Disqualification

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will remove social security sanctions in circumstances where someone is (a) pregnant and (b) caring for a severely disabled person.

Alok Sharma: Claimants who are 11 weeks (or less) before their due date and claimants who have substantial and regular caring responsibilities (35 hours or more per week) for a severely disabled person are not subject to any work-related requirements that could result in a new sanction. Claimants who are more than 11 weeks before their baby is due, or who have less than 35 hours of caring responsibilities per week, will have their requirements tailored to their individual circumstances and what they can reasonably do.

Work Capability Assessment

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to page 53 of the Government's White Paper entitled Improving lives: the future of work, health and disability, in November 2017, what progress her Department has made with Initiative No.5 on reform of the work capability assessment; and if she will make a statement.

Sarah Newton: We are committed to assessing people with health conditions and disabilities fairly and accurately, helping people to access the right support. We made a clear commitment in Improving Lives: The Future of Work, Health and Disability to reform the Work Capability Assessment and recognise the importance of getting this right. We are therefore testing new approaches to build the evidence base for what works, and working with external stakeholders to inform future changes to the WCA. We have established a policy forum, with a focused group of academics, think tanks and disability charities to bring together evidence for reform options and will also gather views from wider stakeholder groups, including individuals with lived experience of disability.

Employment: Disability

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of reintroducing a disability employment target that measures progress against employment levels of non-disabled people.

Sarah Newton: We set out our continued commitment to improving employment rates for disabled people and people with long-term health conditions in Improving Lives: the Future of Work, Health and Disability. We believe people should get the support they need whatever their health condition or disability, whether that’s from their employer, from the health system or from the welfare system. Too many people are missing the opportunity to develop their talents and connect with the world of work, which is why Improving Lives also set out our ambitious, specific and time-bound goal to see 1 million more disabled people in work by 2027. However, no single measure can capture everything that we want to achieve. Improving Lives made it clear that “alongside monitoring the number of disabled people in work, we will also consider other useful statistical indicators which give more information about how disability and employment change over this time period, and inform our actions”. For example, the ad hoc statistical update released on 1 November 2018, by the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department of Health and Social Care, included estimates of the number of disabled people in employment, their employment rate, and the gap between the employment rates of disabled and non-disabled people.

Business: Disability

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that disabled people have fair and equal opportunities to become successful business leaders.

Sarah Newton: The Government is committed to seeing a million more disabled people in work by 2027 and ensuring that disabled people have fair and equal opportunities to become successful business leaders. The latest figures (published Tuesday 13 Nov) show that disability employment has increased by 973,000 in the last five years. The Equality Act 2010 legally protects disabled people from discrimination in the workplace and in wider society. It replaced previous anti-discrimination laws with a single Act, making the law easier to understand and strengthening protection in some situations. We actively support disabled people to enter employment through initiatives like the Work and Health Programme, which is expected to support 220,000 disabled people over 5 years; and the Personal Support Package for those on ESA and Universal Credit equivalents. We also support new and existing disabled workers with Access to Work, which approved support for 27,730 disabled workers in 2017/18, an increase of 11% on 2016/17. The support Access to Work offers includes a discretionary grant of up to £57,200 pa, without which many disabled business leaders might not be able to achieve their employment goals. We engage with employers through Disability Confident. Over 9,500 employers are currently signed up to Disability Confident and that number grows weekly. We are integrating Access to Work communications into Disability Confident promotions so employers can easily understand how they can receive support with the costs of making workplace adjustments. Potential disabled entrepreneurs who are claiming benefits such as ESA or UC equivalents may receive specialist self-employment support through Work and Health Programme and Personal Support Package. The Work and Health Programme includes integrated access to specialist support networks at a local level. In addition, claimants who wish to start their own businesses and become entrepreneurs may be able to receive start up support through the New Enterprise Allowance (NEA). Around 1 in 4 people who start on the NEA have a self-declared disability.

State Retirement Pensions: Females

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will a publish a list of newspapers in which adverts on the change to the state pension age for women were placed since 2010.

Guy Opperman: As reported in the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee report; Communication of state pension age changes, published in March 2016, there were more than 600 mentions of state pension age equalisation in the national broadsheet and tabloid press between 1993 and 2006 – an average of just under one per week – on “front pages, News and City sections as well as personal finance pages”, and most concentrated “in 1993-95 and again from 2005-06”. The Department does not have any records that suggest it has used paid newspaper advertising since 2010 specifically to advertise State Pension age changes.

State Retirement Pensions: Females

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many letters were sent notifying recipients of the change in the state pension age for women since 2010.

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on what date the first letters notifying recipients of the change in the state pension age for women were sent since 2010.

Guy Opperman: People can access the online ‘Check your State Pension’ service through GOV.UK to get a forecast of their State Pension. This includes information about their retirement date, how they may be able to improve the amount of State Pension they are entitled to, as well as providing a view of their National Insurance contribution record. Check Your State Pension service has provided more than ten million online estimates since its introduction in 2016. The following tables show the number of letters sent out to those people born between 6 April 1950 and 5 April 1960, affected by State Pension age increase in the 1995 and 2011 Pensions Acts. Letter volumes since 2010 can clearly be identified.The volumes recorded in the second table have been rounded to the nearest 1000 and include mailings undertaken as part of a communications research project, and those sent to men who were also affected by the 2011 Act. It is not possible to provide the volumes sent to women only in relation to the 2011 Act, as we do not hold the information split by gender. Communication to those affected by the 1995 Act Customer’s date of birthMailing DateNumber of letters sent06/04/50 -05/07/50April 200999,98506/07/50 - 05/10/50Jul 200996,35606/10/50 - 05/04/51Oct 2009191,46506/04/51- 05/10/51Jan 2010196,18906/10/51 – 05/04/52Apr 2010188,51506/04/52 – 05/10/52Feb 2011196,59406/10/52 – 05/04/53Mar 2011191,665 Communication to those affected by the 2011 Act Customer’s date of birthMailing DateNumber of letters sent06/04/53 – 05/12/53Jan 2012275,00006/12/53 – 05/10/54Feb 2012646, 00006/10/54 – 05/04/55Feb 2012375, 00006/04/55 – 05/04/60Oct 2012 – Nov 20134,475,000 To clarify, mailings undertaken as part of the communications research project have been included in the above table.

Universal Credit: Greater London

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many home assessments have been provided for universal credit claimants in the (a) London borough of Lewisham and (b) Lewisham Deptford constituency.

Sarah Newton: The information requested is not available.

Personal Independence Payment: Greater London

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many home assessments have been provided for personal independence payment claimants living in the (a) London borough of Lewisham and (b) Lewisham Deptford constituency in each of the last five years.

Sarah Newton: The information requested is not available.

Universal Credit: Greater London

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claims have been made for universal credit hardship payments in the (a) London borough of Lewisham and (b) Lewisham Deptford constituency.

Alok Sharma: The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

State Retirement Pensions: Females

Mr Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent representations she has received from women in Jarrow constituency affected by measures taken to equalise the state pension age; and if she will make a statement.

Guy Opperman: The policy of increasing State Pension age due to changes in life expectancy and equality legislation is enshrined in the 1995, 2007 and 2011 Pensions Act. It is a policy agreed by all governments in the last 23 years whatever their political persuasion – in 1995 Conservative, Labour in 1997-2010 and Coalition 2010-2015.The Department for Work and Pensions receives a number of recent representations on the measures taken to equalise the State Pension age from individuals and from Members of Parliament writing on their behalf, as it does on many issues. We are unable to state specifically how many representations are from Jarrow constituencyThis matter has been comprehensively debated on many occasions in Parliament. The Government will not be making changes to its policy on state pension age for women born in the 1950s.

Employment: Mental Health

Hugh Gaffney: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment her Department has of trends in the level of incidences of (a) stress, (b) anxiety and (c) depression in the workplace.

Sarah Newton: No data is available to assess separate trends in (a) stress, (b) anxiety and (c) depression within the workplace, although data on this group of conditions collectively, where they are reported to be work-related, is available. Statisticians have assessed that the trend in the rate of new cases (incidence rate) of self-reported work-related stress, anxiety or depression, has remained broadly flat over the last 15 years. However, the trend in the rate of all cases (new and existing cases) of self-reported work-related stress, anxiety or depression, although previously broadly flat, has shown signs of increasing in recent years. Further details are available from: http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/

Employment and Support Allowance: Underpayments

Hugh Gaffney: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to provide (a) compensation and (b) repayments to claimants who were underpaid employment and support allowance.

Sarah Newton: We are reviewing all those cases potentially affected and paying any arrears of past payments that are due. Our focus is on paying arrears to claimants in line with the primary legislation. A Written Statement and Frequently Asked Question document providing further details on this issue was deposited in the House of Commons Library on Wednesday 17 October which can be found at http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/business-papers/commons/deposited-papers/. In addition the Department published the latest statistical information on the estimates and timescales, which can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/esa-underpayments-forecast-numbers-affected-forecast-expenditure-and-progress-on-checking.

Universal Credit

Margaret Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when the Government plans to publish its internal review of universal support.

Alok Sharma: Holding answer received on 19 November 2018



The Work and Pensions Select Committee recently published its report on Universal Support. As part of this it recommends that the Department sets out the conclusions of its internal review and we will respond to the Committee’s recommendations in due course.

Social Security Benefits: Fraud

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to tackle benefit fraud.

Justin Tomlinson: The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is committed to reducing benefit fraud across all benefits administered by or on behalf DWP. DWP’s key focus is on preventing potential benefit fraud before it occurs. Internal and external data matches are increasingly helping inform benefit payments and alerting staff to check for any undeclared changes in people’s circumstances.The Department’s Risk and Intelligence Service uses data and analytics to identify fraud and uses that information to direct investigations. The Department is investing significantly in this area, which will enhance its future risk assessment capability.DWP takes effective action against people who commit benefit fraud. This includes the use of tough financial penalties referred to as administrative penalties and where appropriate prosecution. DWP convicted nearly 5,000 people of benefit fraud last year alone, as well as issuing over 5,500 Administrative Penalties.

Pensions: Advisory Services

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have had (a) a telephone appointment, (b) a face to face appointment and (c) completed a digital journey with the Pension Wise guidance service in the 12 month period ending October 2018.

Guy Opperman: Holding answer received on 19 November 2018



In the 12 month period ending 31 October 2018, there were (a) 32,440 telephone appointments, (b) 78,961 face to face appointments and (c) 44,969 digital journey completions.

Pensions: Advisory Services

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has to encourage uptake of the Pension Wise guidance service.

Guy Opperman: Take up of the Pension Wise guidance service is growing with more and more people having appointments. Between 2015/16 and 2017/18, take up of appointments more than doubled and continues to increase. Pension schemes and providers are required to signpost people to Pension Wise at key contact points. Pension providers are consistently cited by around half of the people who contact Pension Wise as the place they first heard of the service. The FCA have consulted on changes to these requirements with a view to increasing the take up of Pension Wise guidance. The Pension Wise marketing strategy across TV, Radio, web, Press and Video on Demand, as well as search engine optimisation, aims to get maximum reach amongst the target audience. This has proven to an effective way of both raising awareness of the service and driving take-up of appointments. Pension Wise is also working with employers nationally and locally to engage with their employees at their place of work. Pension Wise delivery partners also undertake local promotional activities, raising awareness of the service at local events. The Financial Guidance and Claims Act 2018 establishes a new Single Financial Guidance Body which will bring together the services currently provided by the Money Advice Service, The Pensions Advisory Service and Pension Wise. The new body will make it easier for people to access information and guidance to help them make effective financial decisions. This Act also set a framework for implementing a stronger final nudge towards Pension Wise at the point people seek to access their pension and we are engaging with providers to find the most effective approach.

Pensions: Advisory Services

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Pension Wise guidance service, what information her Department holds on the (a) demographic characteristics of and (b) actions and decisions taken as a result of that guidance being sought by people who have completed a (i) telephone appointment, (ii) face-to-face appointment and (iii) digital journey with that service in the 12 month period ending October 2018.

Guy Opperman: Holding answer received on 19 November 2018



Information on demographic characteristics of Pension Wise Customers and actions and decisions taken as a result of the guidance are published in the Pension Wise Service Evaluation. The latest published report covers 2016/17 and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/653621/pension-wise-service-evaluation-full-year-findings.pdf The demographic profiles of telephone and face-to-face customers are given and compared in Section 2: Customer profiles (pages 4-9). The steps and decisions taken by Pension Wise appointment customers are covered in Section 7: Steps taken and Section 8: Making a decision (pages 32-42). The Pension Wise Service Evaluation report for 2017/18 is forthcoming and will be similarly available on GOV.UK once published. The sampling for the annual Service Evaluation surveys is based around appointments delivered in the autumn of each year. As there are few seasonal differences in customer profiles, we would expect the data in the successive reports to reflect the profiles, experiences and outcomes of customers across the financial year that they relate to. The Service Evaluation for 2018/19, is currently in the field and publication of the report is expected to be in Autumn 2019. Customers completing the digital journey are not covered by the published research findings or the forthcoming report. We are looking to include this channel in the 2018/19 Pension Wise Service Evaluation survey sampling and reporting.

Zero Hours Contracts: Young People

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her Department's press release entitled Youth unemployment down 50% since 2010, published on gov.uk on 16 October 2018, what proportion of recorded employment was under a zero-hours contract.

Alok Sharma: Holding answer received on 19 November 2018



The Office for National Statistics (ONS) use the Labour Force Survey (LFS) to provide estimates for the number of people employed on zero hours’ contracts. The ONS figures for people in employment on zero hours’ contracts broken down by age, do not go back to 2010 and are only currently available up to April-June 2018. Therefore no directly comparable figures to the youth unemployment statistics cited are available. The majority of young people are not employed on zero hours’ contracts. In 2018 (Apr-Jun) there were 261,000 16-24 year olds on a zero hours’ contracts – representing only 6.9% of employed 16-24 year olds. This is down from 299,000 young people (7.8% of employed young people) in 2017 (Apr-Jun), but a slight increase from the first comparable data available, which shows in 2014 (Apr-Jun) there were 235,000 young people on a zero hours’ contract (or 6.3% of employed young people). Many people in full-time education are employed on zero hours’ contracts, in part because of the flexibility they provide. 18.5% of all people in 2018 (Apr-Jun) on zero hours’ contracts were in full-time education – compared to 2.3% of people not on a zero hours’ contract. The ONS data shows that the majority of people on zero hours’ contracts are happy with the hours provided by their zero hours’ contract.

Pensioners: Social Security Benefits

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people of pensionable age in Wansbeck Constituency are in receipt of (a) attendance allowance, (b) disability living allowance or personal independence payment and (c) pension credits.

Guy Opperman: The information requested on the number of individuals of pensionable age in receipt of either Attendance Allowance (AA), Disability Living Allowance (DLA) or Personal Independence Payment (PIP), or Pension Credit (PC) in Wansbeck Constituency is published and available at: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk Guidance for users is available at: https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html

Children: Maintenance

Laura Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to reduce waiting times for reassessment of child maintenance following a change in circumstances.

Justin Tomlinson: The processing of changes of circumstance remains a key priority for the Child Maintenance Service. The numbers of people working within the Child Maintenance Service is reviewed regularly to ensure we have sufficient resources to answer customer calls and progress cases.So far in 2018, we have recruited 835 people into the Child Maintenance Service, with these people joining us between February 2018 and October 2018, and we have plans in place for a further 40 people to join the Child Maintenance Service between November 2018 and January 2019.The performance and timeliness of progressing changes to circumstances is under regular review and forms part of our external publication offering. We continue to explore opportunities to introduce improvements and efficiencies within the Child Maintenance Service and we are currently in the process of implementing Real Time Information from HMRC which will ensure that we have access to the latest income information to make efficient changes to assessments.“

Access to Work Programme

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much her Department spent on promoting Access to Work in the last financial year.

Sarah Newton: I refer the Honourable Member for east Ham to written question 188910, answered on 16 November 2018: https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2018-11-06/188910

Access to Work Programme

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much her Department plans to spend on Access to Work in the 2018-19 financial year.

Sarah Newton: Access to Work is a demand led scheme. As the amount spent reflects the number and nature of those demands we do not routinely publish forecast spend.

Carer's Allowance

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of making carer's allowance available to (a) pensioners and (b) students in full-time education.

Sarah Newton: The Government recognises and appreciates the vital contribution made by informal carers who provide invaluable support for relatives, partners, friends and neighbours who may be ill, frail or disabled. We are already supporting carers in a number of ways, including through the benefit system. Since 2010 the rate of Carer’s Allowance (CA) has increased from £53.90 to £64.60 a week, meaning an additional £550 a year for carers. By 2022/23 we are forecast to spend £3.7bn a year on CA, a real terms increase of more than a third since 2016/17. Access to CA for pensioners and full-time students reflect long-standing principles of the benefit system and we have no plans to change the rules. Although there is no age limit to claiming CA, it cannot normally be paid with the State Pension. CA replaces income where the carer has given up the opportunity of full-time employment in order to care for a severely disabled person, while State Pension replaces income in retirement. For this reason, social security rules operate to prevent them being paid together, to avoid duplicate provision for the same need. However, if a carer’s State Pension is less than CA, State Pension is paid and topped up with CA to the basic weekly rate of CA. Where CA cannot be paid, the person will keep underlying entitlement to the benefit. This gives access to the additional amount for carers in Pension Credit of £36.00 a week, and even if a pensioner’s income is above the limit for Pension Credit, he or she may still be able to receive Housing Benefit.The Government thinks it is right that people in full-time education should be supported by the educational maintenance system, via its range of loans and grants, and not the social security benefit system. That is why, as a general principle, full-time students are usually precluded from entitlement to income-related and income-maintenance benefits. Part-time students may be able to claim CA though.

Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has plans to require people who request an extension to their deadline day as part of the process of managed migration on the grounds of ill health to provide medical evidence in support of that claim.

Alok Sharma: This is one of the areas of detailed design where we will be looking to work collaboratively with external organisations, which will allow DWP to develop the detailed design drawing on the collective experience, evidence and insight of organisations who also actively support our claimants.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Agricultural Products and Food: Imports

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that agricultural products and food produced to lower standards than those of the UK are not imported and do not undermine UK agricultural production.

George Eustice: The Government shares the public’s high regard for food standards and safety, and we are proud to have some of the highest standards in the world. These high standards, including import requirements, will continue to apply when we leave the EU. Maintaining public confidence in the food we eat is vitally important. We are clear that we will not water down our food standards in pursuit of trade agreements.

Agriculture: Finance

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether a programme of capital grants will be continued and apply throughout the UK to assist farmers in adopting methods of agricultural production that maximise efficiency, environmental responsibility and welfare improvements.

George Eustice: The Countryside Productivity scheme provides funding, including grants, for projects in England which improve productivity in the farming and forestry sectors. In October this year we committed £30 million for further rounds of the Countryside Productivity Small Grant scheme, which helps farmers buy equipment they need to boost productivity, increase yields, and become more environmentally efficient. The Agriculture Bill sets out the foundations for the future. It includes provisions which would allow for financial assistance to be given to improve the productivity of agricultural activities. This will allow us to make payments to enable farmers to invest in equipment, technology and infrastructure that will help them to improve their productivity. The payments will also help farmers to deliver public goods, such as environmental benefits and animal health and welfare enhancements that are significantly above the regulatory baseline. We are developing a policy for England. Agriculture is devolved, and so it is for the devolved administrations to determine their own policies and decide how they spend their money.

Solid Fuels: Heating

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made a comparative assessment of the heat produced by kiln dried wood and house coal on a domestic fire in his consultation on cleaner domestic burning of solid fuels and wood; and if he will make statement.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: Information provided from Forest Research indicates that wood that has been ‘oven dried’ has a calorific value of 5.3 kWh per kg (this does not vary significantly between tree species). In comparison, house coal has a calorific value of around 8 kWh per kg. The type of appliance used also affects the amount of heat that can be recovered from a fuel. An efficient, modern, environmentally accredited stove is far more efficient at recovering heat than an open fire.

Insects: Conservation

Mr John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps he has taken to protect bees and insects.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: In October the Government announced £50,000 to support two large-scale pollinator projects in Devon and Hampshire and £60,000 of funding to develop and test pollinator habitat mapping and to help voluntary bodies and land managers to create pollinator-friendly landscapes. We have supported two major events in 2018 to raise awareness of the importance of bees and encourage people to take action. In July, we put on a week-long ‘Bees’ Needs’ event in Carnaby Street (renamed ‘Carnabee’ Street for the week). In November, in collaboration with the Green Flag Award scheme, we organised the Bees’ Needs Champions Awards at Kew Gardens to recognise and celebrate exemplary initiatives undertaken by local authorities, universities, community groups, universities and bee farmers to support bees and other insects. To improve our understanding of the status of pollinators, we have been funding a new UK-wide Pollinator Monitoring Scheme which will report next year. Following scientific evidence that neonicotinoid pesticides are harmful to bees and other pollinators, all outdoor usage will be withdrawn from 19 December 2018. To improve honey bee health, we have maintained an extensive programme of advisory visits and training events to improve beekeepers knowledge of bee pests and diseases and good husbandry practices. Early reporting of Asian hornet by beekeepers has been instrumental in enabling us to tackle several outbreaks this year. These build on the work undertaken, with the invaluable support of a range of partners to the deliver the National Pollinator Strategy for England, published in 2014. Furthermore the Government introduced a Wild Pollinator and Farm Wildlife Package to Countryside Stewardship in 2015 to make it easier for farmers to take action to create habitat for pollinators.

Sites of Special Scientific Interest

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he plans to take to increase the proportion of sites of specific scientific interest monitored every six years.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: Since 2013 Natural England has adopted a risk based approach to the frequency of monitoring sites, which varies according to a range of factors such as risk to the site and the stability of its ecology. Natural England continues to support and encourage its partners and major owners of sites of specific scientific interest (SSSI) in the work they do on SSSI monitoring. Natural England is also developing its approach to the monitoring of SSSIs, including use of new technologies such as remote sensing and greater partnership involvement. This work will form part of Natural England’s continued risk based approach to decide how frequently a site should be monitored and is intended to improve efficiency of SSSI monitoring.

Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many new licences to cull badgers he plans to issue in badger cull areas in the next twelve months; and if he will make a statement.

George Eustice: Defra’s licensing Guidance to Natural England permits the licensing of a maximum of ten new Badger Disease Control areas each year unless there are compelling reasons to increase or decrease the number. The number of licences issued in any year will depend on the number of applications received by Natural England that meet the criteria in the licensing Guidance. Applications are prioritised according to the extent to which they best meet the primary aim of the policy (i.e. to eradicate TB).

Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with landowning bodies about the need to cover complete badger cull areas.

George Eustice: Defra Ministers regularly meet landowning bodies. Badger culling operations are undertaken voluntarily under licence and the decision of landowners on whether or not to participate is respected.

Tree Planting

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of trees that have been planted as a result of Government policies in each year since 2010.

David Rutley: By the end of September 2018 at least 15.2 million trees have been planted with government support since April 2010, equivalent to approximately 12,900 hectares of woodland. The Government’s support for this woodland creation has predominantly been from the Countryside Stewardship scheme and its predecessor, the England Woodland Grant Scheme. Further Government support has been through the Environment Agency and National Forest Company. In the Autumn Budget the Government announced an additional £60 million for tree planting initiatives, comprising £10 million to fund urban tree planting and £50 million for a Woodland Carbon Guarantee scheme. This will add to other new planting in the pipeline, supported by the High Speed 2 Woodland Fund, the Woodland Carbon Fund and the Government’s kick start investment in the Northern Forest. The Government is also committed to planting 11 million trees in this Parliament (2017-2022). Woodland creation is a key part of our 25 Year Environment Plan.

Reindeer: Imports

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many reindeer, in how many consignments and from which countries were imported into the UK in 2017.

David Rutley: The number of reindeer and the number of consignments imported into the UK in 2017 is as follows: CountryNumber of consignmentsNumber of reindeerFinland350Czech Republic11Netherlands372017 Total 758 The Animal and Plant Health Agency is not able to provide any data regarding the number of imports from third countries, as these are covered by a commodity code in TRACES (Trade Control and Expert System) which will not allow us to break the species down as far as reindeer for third country imports.

Reindeer: Exports

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many reindeer, in how many consignments, and to which countries were exported from the UK each year from 2011 to 2017.

David Rutley: The number of reindeer and the number of consignments exported from the UK from 2013 to 2017 is as follows:  YearCountry of destinationNumber of consignmentsNumber of reindeer2013Ireland282013Italy152015France132015Spain142016France262017Czech Republic11TOTAL 827  The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) can access information for the past five years using TRACES (Trade Control and Expert System) for species of animals that require a health certificate for movement to the EU, therefore we are unable to supply the data for the years 2011 and 2012. There are no records of reindeer movements to the EU for the year 2014. APHA’s records for Export Health Certificates issued for animals to third countries that do not use the TRACES system are available for the year 2015 onwards but there are no exports of reindeer to third countries recorded.

Climate Change

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what impact assessment his Department has undertaken on the consequences to the UK in the event that global temperature rises are not kept within the limits of climate accords.

David Rutley: Defra publishes a UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) every five years which reviews risks and opportunities associated with current and potential future climate change. The most recent CCRA was published in January 2017 and considered a range of scenarios, including global warming of 2⁰C and 4⁰C. The next CCRA will be published in early 2022. At the end of this month we will release updated UK and global climate projections (UKCP18). These will be available for use by all decision makers to help them build resilience to climate change into their plans, and will form an important part of the evidence base informing the next CCRA.

Home Office

Immigration: EU Nationals

Janet Daby: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how the fee was determined for settled and pre-settled status applications for EU citizens and their families.

Caroline Nokes: Under Articles 17(1)(g) and (h) of the draft Withdrawal Agreement with the EU the Government agreed that applications to the Scheme will not cost any more than the cost of a comparable document for UK nationals and that applications from holders of valid Permanent Residence documentation or indefinite leave to remain will be free of charge. This was also confirmed in the Prime Minister’s open letter to EU citizens in the UK.The fee of £65 is the same as the current charge for documentation under EU law and is less than the cost of a British passport. A lower fee (£32.50) for applications from children under the age of 16 is consistent with the age at which reduced fees for a British passport apply. There is also no charge for children in local authority care.

Gangs: Crime

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of gang-related crime in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) the UK in the last five years.

Victoria Atkins: We do not keep information on gang-related crime, but we do have information at force level about trends in knife crime, gun crime, and homicide in the West Midlands and Coventry which are offences often associated with gang activity. The latest year-on-year data comparing June 2018 to June 2017 show that knife crime has increased by 18% in the West Midlands compared to England and Wales as a whole which has seen a 12% increase.When looking at the 5-year trend, knife crime in the West Midlands is up by 72%, which is higher than the rise for England and Wales in the same period (61%). Whilst gun crime in the West Midlands has risen by 14% between 2013/14 and 2016/17, this is lower than the rise witnessed in England and Wales (31%). Over the past five years, homicide in the West Midlands has gone up by 24%, compared to 36% in England and Wales.

UK Financial Intelligence Unit: Expenditure

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the annual budget for the National Crime Agency's Financial Intelligence Unit has been in each of the last three years.

Mr Ben Wallace: The annual budget for the National Crime Agency's Financial Intelligence Unit over the last three years are as follows:15/16 - £3.36m16/17 - £3.37m17/18 - £3.49m

Armed Conflict: British Nationals Abroad

Nick Thomas-Symonds: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assistance his Department has (a) requested and (b) received from the European Counter-Terrorism Centre on apprehending foreign fighters.

Mr Ben Wallace: The Government values the role of Europol in helping law enforcement agencies coordinate investigations into serious and organised cross border crime and terrorism. That includes the European Counter Terrorism Centre (ECTC) which was set up in 2016 as an operations centre and hub of expertise for EU Member States at Europol. Since September 2017 the UK has embedded UK Police Officers within the ECTC and works closely with our European partners through the centre.Information exchange between UK authorities and Europol is well-established and takes place on a daily and routine basis on a wide range of criminal activity. This includes information sharing to tackle the threat of terrorism and cooperation continues to assist UK efforts to tackle cross-border terrorist activity impacting on the UK.We cannot comment specifically on the assistance that the Department has requested and received from the ECTC as this is operationally sensitive information.

Cybercrime

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home department, what recent estimate he has made of the cost of cybercrime to the UK economy.

Mr Ben Wallace: Although estimates of the cost of cyber crime vary considerably, there are millions of individual victims, many thousands of corporate victims and correspondingly substantial losses. Therefore, whilst there is no robust estimate of the total cost of cyber crime to the UK economy it is likely to be billions.The Economic and Social Costs of Crime report (Home Office, 2018) estimated a cost of £1.1bn from computer misuse incidents against individuals in the financial year 2015/16. However, it should be noted that this estimate is based upon experimental statistics and should be considered as a partial estimate as it excludes some key costs, such as the costs to businesses.

Asylum: Standards

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what performance indicators are used for individual officers dealing with asylum seekers.

Caroline Nokes: The UK has a proud history of providing protection to those who need it, in accordance with our obligations under the Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).All asylum claims lodged in the UK are carefully considered on their individual merits against a background of relevant case law and up to date country information. We ensure that claimants are given every opportunity to disclose information relevant to their claim before a decision is taken. Where an asylum claimant establishes a well-founded fear of persecution or serious harm in their country of origin, they are normally granted protection and are not expected to return there.Asylum decision makers complete a number of variable events or activities which are weighted and used to calculate performance based on their time spent on casework. The cumulative weighting and total available time is used to calculate and report performance daily, weekly, monthly or for any specified period as required. There are no targets in respect of the number of grants or refusals which decision makers are expected to make each week.Data on performance against the published service standard can be found on tabs Asy 10 and 11 at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/asylum-transparency-data-august-2018

Bus Services: Complaints

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent estimate he has made of the number of investigations into bus driver complaints that the police have been involved with in (a) Coventry and (b) England since 2015.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office does not hold this information centrally.

Police: Finance

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding each police authority in England received (a) in (i) revenue support grant and (ii) redistributed business rates and (b) through the council tax policing precept in 2009-10.

Mr Nick Hurd: Information on revenue grant support, redistributed business rates and council tax policing precept for 2009-10 was published by the Department for Communities and Local Government (now Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government) and is available at the link below.http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20120919221338/http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/localgovernment/counciltax200910Table 6 breaks down council tax precept income for English police forces.Table 8 includes a breakdown of revenue grant support and redistributed business rates by force area.

Knife Crime Community Fund

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of the funding provided by his Department's Anti-Knife Crime Community Fund in tackling recent increases in knife crime in (a) West Lancashire constituency and (b) England.

Victoria Atkins: Funding for the anti-knife crime community fund has been increased from £1 million to £1.5 million in 2018/19 and we are funding 68 local projects across England and Wales this year. These include projects in Lancashire, but not West Lancashire specifically. We are ensuring that the funding is used effectively, and Home Office officials are conducting a series of evaluation visits to projects in order to be satisfied about effective delivery.

Offenders: Patients

Dr Dan Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he plans to introduce a statutory duty on healthcare professionals to report admissions of criminal behaviour by patients; and if he will make a statement.

Victoria Atkins: The Government would encourage all individuals to report a crime, whether they witness it, or its consequences, in a professional capacity or not. The Government has no plans to introduce a statutory duty on healthcare professionals to report admissions of criminal behaviour by patients.

Police Custody

Jim McMahon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has been made of the adequacy of custody cell provision since 2010.

Mr Nick Hurd: Decisions about police estates, including resourcing to ensure that the provision of police custody cells meets operational requirements, are local matters for Chief Constables working with democratically accountable police and crime commissioners.

Home Office: Migrant Workers

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many citizens of non-UK EU countries work in (a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) its non-departmental public bodies.

Victoria Atkins: All Government Departments are bound by legal requirements concerning the right to work in the UK and, in addition, the Civil Service Nationality Rules.Evidence of nationality is checked at the point of recruitment into the Civil Service as part of wider pre-employment checks, but there is no requirement on departments to retain this information beyond the point at which it has served its purpose.

Immigrants: EU Nationals

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what definition his Department uses for classifying people as vulnerable in relation to eligibility for participation in the private beta testing phase of the EU Settlement Scheme.

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the private beta testing phase of the EU Settlement Scheme will include victims of modern slavery identified under the National Referral Mechanism.

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has made an assessment of (a) the ability of victims of human trafficking to pay the fee required under the private beta testing phase of the EU Settlement Scheme and (b) the potential merits of waiving the fee for those people.

Caroline Nokes: The EU Settlement Scheme provides a streamlined, user-friendly, digital application system, with multiple service options to meet the needs of a varied customer base, including additional support for the vulnerable.As outlined in the Immigration Rules for the next private beta testing phase, a child being looked after (within the meaning of section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989) by, or a person who was such a child and is eligible for support or assistance under the Children Act 1989 (or under regulations made under that Act) from one of the named local authorities can apply. Additionally, a vulnerable person receiving support from one of the named civil society organisations will be eligible to make an application. These include more than one organisation which works with victims of trafficking.I am content that our approach to fees is reasonable, proportionate and fair to all EU citizens. However, I will keep the approach on fees under review. More broadly, we are also considering how the EU Settlement Scheme can take into account the specific circumstances of victims of modern slavery and how to support the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) service providers to link victims up with the Scheme while they are in NRM support.

Immigrants: EU Nationals

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the ability of people without access to identity documentation to participate in the private beta testing phase of the EU Settlement Scheme.

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether people without access to identity documentation are included in the private beta testing phase of the EU Settlement Scheme.

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether chipped identity cards will be accepted as a form of identification in the private beta testing phase of the EU Settlement Scheme.

Caroline Nokes: The EU Settlement Scheme provides a streamlined, user-friendly, digital application system, with multiple service options to meet the needs of a varied customer base, including additional support for applicants who may need it.In the initial pilot phase (Private Beta 1) applications could be made using a range of ID documents. The second pilot phase, which started on 1 November, aims to test the full digital end-to-end application process, of which the chip checker application is a key component. It allows applicants to prove their identity and the validity of their identity document remotely. We therefore require applicants to use this app when making an application and at this stage they can only do so using a chipped biometric passport.Non-EU citizen family members must use a biometric residence card issued by the Home Office in order to prove their identity via the app.The second pilot phase will also include some vulnerable individuals being supported by a small number of local authorities and civil society organisations.When the Scheme opens more widely, the ID verification app will be only one of three options that applicants can use to verify their identity, along with posting their ID document to us or going to a face-to-face location.

International Military Services: Iran

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether members of the Iranian delegation attending the IMS Ltd. arbitration court hearing with the UK have been detained by the UK authorities since their previous detention upon entry in 2013.

Caroline Nokes: It is longstanding policy not to disclose details of records which may be held in relation to individuals’ arrival in the United Kingdom, as to do so would not be in the interests of national security.

Offences against Children

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information the Department holds on the number of children assessed as being at risk of Child Sexual Exploitation in the latest year for which information is available.

Victoria Atkins: It is difficult to measure the number of children at risk of child sexual exploitation with confidence because methodologies vary and because most child sexual abuse remains unreported.In its report, Measuring the Scale and Changing Nature of Child Sexual Abuse Child Sexual Exploitation, published in August 2018, the Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse refers to several studies which have sought to assess the number of children at risk of sexual exploitation in England using different methodologies and data sources. These include a survey of 100 local authorities in 2016 which identified 13,466 children at risk, and a study by the Office of the Children's Commissioner in 2012 which estimated 16,500 children to be at risk.The Department for Education published statistics on “Characteristics of children in need: 2017/18: England” on 25 October 2018. These show nearly 20,000 assessments carried out by children’s services where child sexual exploitation was identified as being a factor that contributed to the child being in need. However, these figures count numbers of assessments, not number of children, so if a child has more than one assessment where child sexual exploitation is identified as a factor then they will be counted more than once in these figures.

Undocumented Migrants: Arrests

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the Government's policy is on suspected illegal migrants being arrested in public places.

Caroline Nokes: Guidance on when and how Immigration Enforcement officers may arrest suspected illegal migrants can be found at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/537682/Arrest-and-restraint-v1.pdfAll immigration enforcement visits and operations which may involve arrest, require authorisation. Operations in public places are subject to a higher level of authorisation than other types of enforcement visit or operation and require the completion of a comprehensive risk and intelligence assessment. The nature of immigration enforcement activity means that there may be unplanned encounters as part of a planned operation. In such situations, officers will undertake a dynamic risk assessment and any action will be taken within the parameters of the guidance and the powers available to the officer.

Immigrants: EU Nationals

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to his Department's guidance entitled Existing UK residence documents for EU citizens, published on gov.uk, and with reference to the statement in that guidance that permanent residence documents will not be a valid proof of residence after 31 December 2020 and people will still need to apply for settled status to continue living in the UK after June 2021 even if they have a permanent residence document, whether that is planned to still be the case in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the reason is for the invalidation of permanent residence documents after 31 December 2020.

Caroline Nokes: In either a deal or no deal scenario, permanent residence (and other) documents which confirm a right to reside under Directive 2004/38EC (the Free Movement Directive) will cease to be valid when EU law ceases to apply. However, EU citizens and their family members who have a documented right of permanent residence can exchange this for settled status free of charge.

Slavery: Gangs

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Answer to Question 183314 on Children: Death, if he will make an assessment of the (a) number and (b) proportion of (i) referrals and (ii) successful referrals that have been made to the National Referral Mechanism as a result of  gang involvement in each of the past five years.

Victoria Atkins: The National Crime Agency (NCA) regularly publishes National Referral Mechanism (NRM) data but does not publish data about the number, proportion and referrals that have been made to the National Referral Mechanism as result of gang involvement. Latest statistics on NRM referrals and decisions are available at the following link: http://nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/publications/national-referral-mechanism-statistics/2018-nrm-statisticsFurther information is also available in the 2018 UK Annual Report on Modern Slavery which was published on 18 October 2018.

Crimes of Violence: Greater London

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions he has had with the Mayor of London on levels of violent crime in London.

Victoria Atkins: The Mayor of London is a member of the Serious Violence Taskforce, which is chaired by the Home Secretary, and he has spoken about and discussed action being taken on violent crime in London with the Taskforce.

Serious Violence Taskforce

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if his Department will publish (a) the actions, (b) the minutes and (c) any completed actions of the Serious Violence Taskforce relating to the minutes of that taskforce's meetings on (i) 11 June 2018, (ii) 17 July 2018 and (iii) 22 October 2018.

Victoria Atkins: Due to the nature of the discussions of the Serious Violence Taskforce, the minutes and actions of the meeting are not available publicly so to ensure an open discussion. The Taskforce is a valuable forum and it led to the Home Secretary’s recent announcements on a new £200m Youth Endowment Fund, a consultation on the proposed new legal duty to support the public health approach to tackling violence, and an independent review of drug misuse.

Immigrants: EU Nationals

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 25 October 2018 to Question 182186 and with reference to the oral contribution of 5 November 2018 by the Minister for Immigration, what further assessment he has made of the potential merits of waiving the application fee for (a) any victim and (b) any dependent of trafficking or modern slavery with a positive reasonable grounds or conclusive grounds decision when applying for settled status.

Caroline Nokes: I am content that our approach to fees is reasonable, proportionate and fair to all EU citizens.However, I will keep the approach on fees under review. More broadly, we are also considering how the EU Settlement Scheme can take into account the specific circumstances of victims of modern slavery and how to support the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) service providers to link victims up with the Scheme while they are in NRM support.

Home Office: Staff

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the number of staff that will be employed by his Department on 29 March 2019.

Victoria Atkins: The Home Office constantly reviews its capabilities to deliver the Government’s agenda. With EU Exit negotiations still underway, we continue to assess how our priorities will impact on the workforce and capabilities required.We are committed to ensuring that our operational teams have the resources they need to run an efficient and effective migration system, tackle illegal immigration and keep the UK safe. We are already recruiting additional staff to help with the preparations we are making for leaving the EU.

Immigrants: EU Nationals

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to his Department’s announcement of 25 October 2018 of a new fund to support vulnerable EU citizens apply for settled status, what assessment his Department has made of (a) the number of voluntary and community organisations which will be able to receive funds under this scheme, (b) the geographical coverage of those organisations and (c) whether the level of funding will be sufficient to meet demand for that support.

Caroline Nokes: The invitation to tender documents will describe any constraints on what the funding may be utilised for in order to ensure the grant funding is delivered for intended outcomes and any restrictions on which organisations may apply. The grant scheme will enable organisations across the UK to apply for funding to support vulnerable EU citizens. Data modelling and sector engagement have been used to gauge potential geographical coverage and associated volumes that might be supported.

Home Office: Vivastreet

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department is working with the company Vivastreet on issues pertaining to prostitution.

Victoria Atkins: Officials from the Home Office have met with the online classified advertisement company Vivastreet on several occasions to discuss initiatives to identify, prevent and disrupt sex-trafficking enabled via online platforms.

Police: Ports

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an estimate of the number of police officers stationed at each major port in each part of the UK in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office does not hold information on the number of police officers stationed at major ports.Decisions on the size and deployment of the police workforce are operational matters for Chief Officers working with their Police and Crime Commissioners and taking into account local priorities.

Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service: Finance

Mr Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the allocation of funds to the Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what financial support his Department provides to the Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service.

Mr Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much central Government funding the Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service has received in each year since 2010.

Mr Nick Hurd: In 2018/19, Tyne & Wear Fire and Rescue Authority is receiving £47.8 million in core spending power. This is an increase of 0.8% compared with 2017/18. In addition, at March 2018, Tyne & Wear Fire and Rescue Authority held £25 million in reserves, equivalent to 52.3% of core spending power.Details of Tyne & Wear Fire and Rescue Authority Spending Power and the contribution from formula grant or the Settlement Funding Assessment since 2010 can be found on line at:http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20090506010526/http://www.local.communities.gov.uk/finance/0910/grant.htmSince 2010 there have been changes to the finance and function of local government, therefore spending power, Formula Grant and Settlement Funding Assessment are not directly comparable over this period.Fire and rescue services have the resources they need to do their important work. Overall fire and rescue authorities is receiving around £2.3 billion in 2018/19. Financial reserves held by single purpose Fire and Rescue Authorities increased by 80% to £545 million between 31 March 2011 and 31 March 2018. This is equivalent of 42% of their core spending power.

Female Genital Mutilation

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the approaches taken by different police forces when they are notified by a body which is legally bound to report FGM that a girl or woman has been subject to FGM.

Victoria Atkins: Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a crime and it is child abuse. The Government is clear that we will not tolerate a practice that can cause extreme and lifelong suffering to women and girls.The Serious Crime Act 2015 introduced a new FGM mandatory reporting duty requiring all regulated health, social care and teaching professionals to report known cases of FGM in under 18s directly to the police.The Home Office has published information for the professionals subject to the duty and the police on GOV.uk. This makes clear that upon receipt of a report the police will record the information and initiate a multi-agency response, in line with local safeguarding arrangements.To improve understanding of the prevalence of so-called ‘Honour Based Violence’ including FGM, we amended the police Annual Data Requirement (ADR) to allow police forces the opportunity from April 2018 to record on a voluntary basis where a crime has been committed in the context of preserving the ‘honour’ of a family or community. This new voluntary collection is also capturing police recorded offences of FGM which were initially reported to the police under the duty.

Immigrants: EU Nationals

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he plans to take to ensure that EU Settlement Scheme grant funding reaches groups (a) that have a real and established relationship with Roma communities and (b) in geographical areas where Roma communities are concentrated.

Caroline Nokes: The Home Office has undertaken extensive engagement with the voluntary and community sector, which includes specific engagement with organisations that work with Roma communities across the UK, through organised meetings, fora, teleconferences and workshops. Evaluation of bids will include criteria on geographical coverage and the range of people to be supported.

Immigrants: EU Nationals

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will consider changing in the EU Settlement Scheme grant funding the eligibility criterion that applications can be for no more than 25 per cent of an organisation’s annual income so that smaller community groups are not disadvantaged.

Caroline Nokes: Following market engagement, the Home Office is considering accepting bids from organisations where the grant would exceed 25% of an organisation’s annual income and how this might affect evaluation of a bid. The final criteria, including evaluation of financial viability, will be available in the invitation to tender documentation.

Immigrants: EU Nationals

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when he plans to publish the findings of the second phase of the testing of settled status applications which includes testing with Roma applicants.

Caroline Nokes: As set out in the Immigration Rules, the second phase of the private beta testing is open to workers in the health and social care sector across the country, as well as employees of all institutions classified as a Higher Education Institution listed on the Tier 4 sponsor register. This phase will also include some vulnerable individuals being supported by a small number of local authorities and civil society organisations.We will provide further details in due course of the planned phased implementation of the scheme, and we will continue to update Parliament as part of that process. The second phase of this private beta testing runs from 1 November to 21 December.

Asylum: Detainees

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many women are currently being held in immigration detention while their asylum claims are being processed.

Caroline Nokes: The department currently does not record the information on the criteria as set; the number of women being held in detention while their asylum claims are being processed.The number of women who were detained from 2010 Q1 to 2018 Q2 is available in table dt_13_q in the latest release of the ‘Immigration Statistics, ‘Year ending June 2018’, available from the Home Office website at; https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-june-2018-data-tables.

Asylum: Detainees

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to page 28 of the independent report entitled Welfare in detention of vulnerable persons review: progress report, published on gov.uk in July 2018, what steps his Department is taking in response to the recommendation that it should take steps to identify women claiming asylum who are being held in detention whose cases would be better processed in the community.

Caroline Nokes: Almost all asylum claims are processed in the community. Individuals who have their claim processed in detention have usually claimed asylum after being detained for removal, are detained for public protection reasons or have previously failed to comply with the UK’s immigration rules. In response to recommendation 10 in Stephen Shaw’s second report, we are considering whether more of those who claim asylum in detention could have their claims processed in the community.In addition, the Home Secretary has undertaken to establish a pilot to manage vulnerable women in the community who would otherwise be detained in Yarl’s Wood and we anticipate that the pilot will have a role in addressing recommendation 10 for women who have claimed asylum in detention.

Immigrants: Children

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to ensure that minors residing in Calais that have family in the UK are able to access family reunification procedures.

Caroline Nokes: The primary responsibly for children in France lies with the French authorities. It is important that any children present in Calais claim asylum or otherwise engage with French authorities.Under the EU Dublin Regulation the UK will accept all requests for transfer of an unaccompanied child’s asylum claims with qualifying family in the UK and where transfer is in the child’s best interests. In order to enter this process, a child must first claim asylum in the Member State in which they are present, and that State must request that the UK takes charge of their asylum claim.As part of the Sandhurst Treaty, signed between the UK and France on 18 January 2018, we agreed a comprehensive package to support unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children. This includes a £3.6 million development fund to support eligible children through the Dublin process and ensures that those without any prospect for transferring to the UK are informed of their options. We have also agreed shorter timescales for acceptance and transfer under the Dublin process and a UK asylum liaison officer has been deployed to France to support this process.

Educational Testing Service

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many of the 22,694 people who had taken the Test of English for International Communication tests from 2011 to 2014 and whose results were found by the Educational Testing Service to have been questionable were invited (a) to resit a test and (b) to attend an interview.

Caroline Nokes: No action to refuse leave on the grounds of a questionable certificate was taken against anybody without first giving them the opportunity to re-sit their test with another provider or attend an interview with a Home Office official.Whilst ETS notified the Home Office of 22,694 questionable UK test certificates, the actual number where it was relevant to require a fresh test and an interview with a Home Office official was much smaller. The exact information requested is not held centrally, and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Educational Testing Service

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many of the 22,694 people who had taken the Test of English for International Communication test from 2011 to 2014 and whose results were found by the Educational Testing Service to have been questionable subsequently had (a) no action taken against them and (b) their visa cancelled or curtailed.

Caroline Nokes: The information requested is not held centrally, and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. UKVI transparency data provides details of refusal, curtailments and removal decisions in response to the abuse of secure English language testing. A link to the most recent available data is provided here;https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/temporary-and-permanent-migration-data-february-2017The table in SELT_02 is the closest match to the information requested. The data was last published in February 2017 and only contains data to the last quarter (December 2016). ETS data is no longer published after this date.

Domestic Violence: Victim Support Schemes

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many victims of domestic abuse with no recourse to public funds applied to the Destitute Domestic Violence Concession; and of those applications how many were successful.

Caroline Nokes: We do not publish this specific data, as we do not categorise applications on receipt by whether they do or do not have access to public funds. This information could only be obtained by a manual case by case review to collate the data which would be disproportionately expensive.The published statistics relating to individuals granted leave to remain under the destitution domestic violence concession and Indefinite Leave to Remain in the United Kingdom as a victim of domestic violence are recorded together as part of published Migration Statistics and can be located via the linkhttps://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release

Key Forensic Services: Police

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether police forces are still contracting with Key Forensics Services.

Mr Nick Hurd: Police Forces continue to contract with Key Forensics Services.

Forensic Science: Misconduct

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Written Statement of 21 November 2017 on Toxicology, HCWS265, how many tests conducted by Trimega between 2010 and 2014 his Department has subsequently identified as unreliable.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office does not hold this information. This case remains subject to ongoing police investigation.

Attorney General

Crown Prosecution Service: Staff

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Attorney General, what the change has been in the number of (a) full-time and (b) part-time personnel employed by the Crown Prosecution Service in the last two years.

Robert Buckland: Details of the full time and part time personnel employed by the Crown Prosecution Service in the last two years are shown in the table below:YearFull Time PersonnelPart Time PersonnelTotals2016/174436154859842017/18441715635980Difference-19+15-4(Data Source CPS Trent HR Database as at 16/11/18)

Cabinet Office

Birth Rate

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what information his Department holds on the (a) birth and (b) infant mortality rate in (i) England, (ii) London and (iii) the London Borough of Lewisham for each of the last 10 years.

Mr David Lidington: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 06 November 2018.The correct answer should have been:

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply. The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply and their response will be placed in the Library.



UKSA response 
(PDF Document, 68.84 KB)

Mr David Lidington: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply. The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply and their response will be placed in the Library.



UKSA response 
(PDF Document, 68.84 KB)

Department for International Trade

Defence: Export Credit Guarantees

Christine Jardine: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what the (a) premium income (b) claims paid and (c) monies at risk of UK Export Finance were relating to the defence sector for the financial years (i) 2015-16, (ii) 2016-17 and (iii) 2017-18.

Graham Stuart: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 25 October 2018.The correct answer should have been:

UK Export Finance (UKEF) does not publish premium value by sector. Total premium income can be found in our Annual Report and Accounts.The premium income for defence transactions is presented in the table below.Financial YearGross Premium GBPNet Premium GBP2015/1689,865.8089,865.802016/1764,818,167.4646,858,612.392017/184,823,315.654,823,315.65  No claims were paid relating to defence sector contracts during this period. The monies at risk for defence transactions are presented in the table below. FYNet Amount at Risk £m2015-161,219.32016-172,749.82017-182,537.6 Where such information is not commercially sensitive, UKEF publishes details of the companies it has supported on an annual basis in its Annual Report and Accounts which are presented to Parliament and can be found on UKEF’s website. https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/uk-export-finance-annual-reports-and-accounts

Graham Stuart: UK Export Finance (UKEF) does not publish premium value by sector. Total premium income can be found in our Annual Report and Accounts.The premium income for defence transactions is presented in the table below.Financial YearGross Premium GBPNet Premium GBP2015/1689,865.8089,865.802016/1764,818,167.4646,858,612.392017/184,823,315.654,823,315.65  No claims were paid relating to defence sector contracts during this period. The monies at risk for defence transactions are presented in the table below. FYNet Amount at Risk £m2015-161,219.32016-172,749.82017-182,537.6 Where such information is not commercially sensitive, UKEF publishes details of the companies it has supported on an annual basis in its Annual Report and Accounts which are presented to Parliament and can be found on UKEF’s website. https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/uk-export-finance-annual-reports-and-accounts

Design: Exports

Mr Edward Vaizey: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment he has made of the economic contribution of (a) design and (b) design skills to UK exports.

Graham Stuart: The Government recognises and champions the significant contribution that design and design skills play within the UK economy, particularly as a key factor in the production of services and goods across a wide range of sectors. The Design Council produced a report into the Design Economy in 2018 which estimated that in 2015 the total value of exports where design had made a key contribution was £48.4 billion. The report also found that gross value added generated by the design economy increased by 52% between 2009 and 2016, with over 1.69 million people employed in the design economy and over 78,000 design intensive firms operating in the UK in 2017. DCMS estimates that the wider creative sector was worth £92bn in 2016 and is growing twice the rate of the economy as a whole. This was up from £85bn the previous year.

Trade Fairs

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps he is taking to ensure his Department's trade show stands represents the whole of the UK.

Graham Stuart: Holding answer received on 19 November 2018



The Department for International Trade (DIT) delivers a global programme of events including UK stands and groups at the world’s leading trade shows. In every instance the whole of the UK’s strengths are displayed and promoted notably through the GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland Campaign. In order to ensure that the whole of the UK is represented, DIT continues to engage with all parts of the UK, in both the public and private sectors, to ensure that the full breadth of our talent and messaging is a part of the single UK offer.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Design

Mr Edward Vaizey: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the contribution to the UK economy of (a) design and (b) design skills.

Mr Edward Vaizey: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate he has made of the value of digital design to (a) the UK economy and (b) UK exports.

Margot James: We recognise the significant contribution design makes to the UK economy,particularly as a key factor in the production of services and goods across a wide range of sectors. According to DCMS economic estimates design and designer fashion exports in 2016 were £380m, a 9.6% increase from 2015. The Design Council produced a report into the Design Economy in 2018 which estimates that in 2015 the total value of exports where design had made a key contribution was £48.4 billion. The report also found that gross value added generated by the design economy increased by 52% between 2009 and 2016, with over 1.69 million people employed in the design economy and over 78,000 design intensive firms operating in the UK in 2017.

Cybercrime

Margaret Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to implement the forthcoming cyber security skills strategy; and what plans his Department has to consult the devolved Administrations on that strategy.

Margot James: Government is committed to publishing a Cyber Security Skills Strategy by the end of 2018. We are working with Devolved Administrations on the development of the Strategy and the document will set out our approach to implementation and next steps. In the meantime, government continues to deliver a range of initiatives designed to boost cyber security skills in the UK.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Public Bodies

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 15 November 2018 to Question 190379 on Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: public bodies, if he will publish a list of the names and addresses of those bodies.

Michael Ellis: A list of the public bodies sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is published on the Department's website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-digital-culture-media-sport The list can be found by scrolling down to the link to the Department's agencies and bodies. Links are then provided to each organisation's website where further information including addresses is available.

Historic Royal Palaces: Occupational Pensions

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with (a) staff representatives and (b) management of Historic Royal Palaces on the proposed closure of the Defined Benefits Pensions Scheme.

Michael Ellis: DCMS officials discussed the closure of the Defined Benefits Pension Scheme with Historic Royal Palaces (HRP) officials towards the end of 2017. The Department was also presented with HRP’s Operating Plan 2018- 2021 by the Chief Executive of HRP which contained information on the closure.

Northern Ireland Office

Police Service of Northern Ireland

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what assessment she has made with the Police Services Northern Ireland of the capability of the police to meet any potential (a) threats and (b) risks as a result of the UK leaving the EU.

Karen Bradley: Policing is a devolved matter; the PSNI’s main budget is allocated by the Department of Justice from the Northern Ireland block grant, through the Policing Board. Operational capability and policing matters are a matter for the Chief Constable, with whom I maintain regular contact. The UK Government has provided the Police Service of Northern Ireland with additional security funding in order that they can tackle the SEVERE and enduring threat from Northern Ireland related terrorism.

Police Service of Northern Ireland: Safer Neighbourhood Teams

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for State for Northern Ireland, what assessment has been made of the capability of Police Service of Northern Ireland neighbourhood policing teams to respond to threats at the border after the UK leaves the EU.

Karen Bradley: We are committed to a future partnership on security, policing and justice with the EU, including Ireland, which will allow the PSNI to continue to tackle national security threats, serious and organised crime. Policing is a devolved matter and operational policing capability is a matter for the Chief Constable. I understand the PSNI has submitted its case for additional Brexit-related resources and that bid is currently being considered by the Government.

Police Service of Northern Ireland: Finance

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what discussions she has had with the Police Service of Northern Ireland on its financial situation.

Karen Bradley: Policing is a devolved matter and the PSNI’s main budget is allocated by the Department of Justice from the Northern Ireland block grant, through the Policing Board. Operational policing matters are a matter for the Chief Constable, with whom I maintain regular contact. The UK Government has provided the Police Service of Northern Ireland with additional security funding in order that they can tackle the SEVERE and enduring threat from Northern Ireland related terrorism. The PSNI has submitted a case for additional Brexit-related resources to Treasury. That bid is currently under consideration. This Government remains unstinting in its admiration and support for the brave men and women of the PSNI and their efforts to keep people in Northern Ireland safe and secure.

Women and Equalities

Equal Pay: Registration

Darren Jones: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what the cost to the public purse was of creating the gender pay gap register.

Victoria Atkins: The gender pay gap reporting website was created to enable over 10,000 employers of 250 or more employees to comply with their legal obligation to report their gender pay gap data. The website can be found at: https://gender-pay-gap.service.gov.uk/The total cost of creating and maintaining the website to September 2018 in line with Government Digital Service guidelines was £2,349,808. The cost reflects several stages of digital design and development from the initial discovery phase £84,000, Alpha phase £249,600 and private beta £544,733 through to public beta and maintenance £1,471,476.

Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act 1918

Giles Watling: To ask the Secretary of State for Women and Equalities, what plans the Government has to use the centenary of the Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act 1918 to encourage more women to stand for public office.

Victoria Atkins: The Government Equalities Office is providing financial assistance to ensure every MP in this House can invite a woman constituent to parliament for the day. Campaign group 50:50 Parliament’s #AskHerToStand event asks MPs to mentor a woman from their constituency for the day.The Government Equalities Office is also hosting a conference to celebrate the centenary of the Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act on 21 November 2018. The conference will celebrate and learn from women law-makers who have made a difference to the country.The women attending have been involved in the Suffrage Centenary year including grant recipients, grassroots groups, gender equality organisations, and aspiring politicians.